Freeskiing
Eileen Gu is flipping the script on what it means to "ski like a girl"
Freeski champion, Stanford student, cover model. As the definition of ‘multi-hyphenate’, the generational talent seems to have no limitations.
At 22, Eileen Gu knows exactly what she wants to be doing, and where she wants to be. She’s the subject of the first episode of the new Red Bull TV show, Winter Heroes, and it’s a pretty inspirational way to kick things off.
Eileen Gu
© Josh Edmonds/Red Bull Content Pool
Oh, and she’s also studying for a business degree at one of the world’s most prestigious universities, and gracing magazine covers and red carpets as a fashion model. As the film explores, it’s all driven by a desire to leave a lasting legacy and to prove for the next generation of female athletes that you really can do it all.
What it means to "ski like a girl"
15 min
Eileen Gu
Witness the dazzling trajectory of a skier who's redefining what it means to be a modern champion.
It hasn’t been an easy ride. Skiing since the age of three, Gu joined her first team at the age of seven, and was the only girl on her team until she was 14 years old. “Infinite times I've sat on the chair and heard someone off-handedly remark, ‘Oh, I'm skiing like a girl today. I'm skiing so bad.' Even if it's not directed at me, if I'm eight, how does that impact you?” she asks.
She describes feeling an “unjust burden to carry all of womanhood, because if I wasn't good, then I was just confirming all of these subconscious biases about women and their ability to perform in sports.”
How Gu learned to silence haters
It’s an incredible amount of pressure to feel as a child. For Gu, this sense of injustice galvanised her to prove her worth beyond any doubt. The best way to silence critics? That would be to double down and be better than the boys. “Train like I'm competing. Compete like I'm training,” became her motto.
Train like I'm competing, compete like I'm training
Training like she's competing
© Syo van Vliet/Red Bull Content Pool
In Winter Heroes, we see her carry this motto, this flat-out work ethic, beyond the halfpipe and onto the red carpet. Alongside her ski career, Gu has diligently pulled double duty as a model since the age of 14. Like her skiing, fashion has helped her better understand herself as a woman.
"I felt I had to look like a boy"
“The fashion industry has opened my eyes to so much… [it] taught me so much about myself and the world. Before that, I felt I had to look like a boy, dress like a boy, just to make friends… I realised that there's so much expressiveness to be had to exist, to present and to be authentic to yourself … growing into my femininity in a meaningful way was super impactful for me,” she explains as she shoots her second cover for Champion magazine in the days leading up to a ski comp.
Eileen Gu enjoys the sunshine on the slopes
© Lorenz Richard/Red Bull Content Pool
On the half pipe in Kitzsteinhorn
© Syo van Vliet/Red Bull Content Pool
Sending it to slopestyle victory at the Laax Open
© Lorenz Richard/Red Bull Content Pool
Preparing to shred
© Lorenz Richard/Red Bull Content Pool
“You don't have to look a certain way to be powerful. You don't have to compromise on how you look, how you express yourself or your sense of style while being in an extreme sport or being in any male dominated space,” she says, very much silencing her earliest critics – male or female.
"I'm actually thankful that I've had the experiences that I had," says Gu
© Josh Edmonds/Red Bull Content Pool
Alongside the aesthetic and athletic, Elieen also has the academic on lock. Having previously deferred entry into Stanford University to focus on her performance in Beijing, she’s now a full-time student, studying and writing papers in spare moments in international hotel rooms, make-up chairs, and in the downtime after events. Like her modelling, like her skiing, it’s about carving out her own niche for herself and proving to younger girls that multiple pathways are open to them.
Life is going to be a bumpy road for all of us and building resiliency early on is important
“I was so fortunate that I got to pick the three things that I love most, sports, academics and fashion, and just make that into my life,” she tells CNN during an interview. “It makes me feel like I have a responsibility to other young women and other young people, frankly, to allow them to uplift their own voices too.”
Studying comes in handy for the day job, too; Gu explains how she uses visualisation and her knowledge of physics to push her skiing higher and harder. It works: In 2024, she won first place in the Halfpipe competition at the Winter X Games, and podiumed at numerous the FIS Freeskiing World Cup, with four golds.
Eileen Gu at the Wings For Life World Run in San Francisco
© Saylor Nedelman for Wings for Life World Run
Naturally, all of this takes a toll. We see Gu suffering through mental exhaustion and physical pain (“It’s probably one of the hardest things I've had to do. I've never skied with pain like this before, just excruciating, constant,” she explains after winning gold after skiing with hip pain at the X Games).
But her early travails have toughened her up and allow her to keep pushing, whatever she’s doing. “Although being a girl in a male-dominated sport can be difficult, I'm actually thankful that I've had the experiences that I had,” she says. “Life is going to be a bumpy road for all of us and building resiliency early on is important.”
Check out Eileen Gu’s Winter Heroes episode at the top of the page, or click here.