LIVIGNO, Italy — Eileen Gu is a scientist at work, experimenting on her own mind and body. She spends a lot of time in her own head, analysing every thought, forming her “working hypothesis,” just like she does with her skiing, constantly tinkering, striving for “higher optimization.” Such words are just part of her vernacular.
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Inside her head is, ‘not a bad place to be,” said the self-proclaimed “statistics nerd,” who loves the Olympics because of the records she can break. After winning halfpipe gold on Saturday at Livigno Snow Park, she explicitly pointed out that it made her the most decorated freestyle skier, male or female.
Gu’s eight-year-old self would be “obsessed” with the young woman she has become. “I would love me, and that’s the biggest flex of all time,” she said.
The American-born athlete has won the most gold medals of any free skier, is the highest earner at the 2026 Winter Olympics, according to Forbes, is an IMG model, a Stanford University student, and a controversial figure, having decided to represent her mother’s native China aged 15 in 2019.
When Gu drops into the halfpipe, listening to Ameri
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