Who is Eileen Gu, the 2026 Winter Olympics Star?

Leave it to the Winter Olympics to create a global phenomenon overnight. From record-breaking athletic performances to headline-making triumphs, this year’s games have delivered no shortage of viral stars. But it’s China’s freestyle skier Eileen Gu—equal parts elite athlete and fashion darling—who’s captured our attention both on and off the slopes.

At the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, the San Francisco-born competitor added to her legendary resume with yet another silver medal, this time in the women’s freeski big air final. Her run—coming nearly four years after her historic breakout at the Beijing Games—helped her extend her remarkable Olympic medal streak to five, making her the most decorated female freestyle skier in history.

After dominating international headlines with her medal-winning performance and commanding presence in Milan, Gu has become far more than an Olympic champion. As an IMG-signed model, it’s only fitting that she’s also been a viral style sensation at these games, with fans and media buzzing over her custom ski outfit.

The ensemble—designed by Chinese sportswear brand Anta—was a sleek white and blue ski suit that mixed athletic functionality with playful, personal touches and nods to her Chinese heritage, including dragon decals that Gu looked to as symbols of strength throughout the competition. Plus, the outfit even included a built-in thermometer that allowed it to change colours according to temperature—talk about a gold-medal worthy kit.

This level of fashion-world attention isn’t new for the Olympian, though. Fans of Gu will remember when she also went viral on China’s mega-popular microblogging site Weibo after walking the 2022 Met Gala red carpet. In her second appearance at the fundraising gala, the Olympic gold medalist freestyle skier and model was one of the most talked-about topics on the Twitter-esque social media platform. In a matter of hours, the hashtag #EileenGuMetGalaRedCarpet had some 250 million views, according to CNN.

So, who exactly is Eileen Gu?

While she started her career competing stateside, the 18-year-old athlete traded in her Team USA uniform to ski for China (her mother’s home country) ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. There, she won gold medals in big air and halfpipe, as well as a silver medal in slopestyle, making her the youngest champion in freestyle skiing.

But when she’s not hitting the slopes, Gu is gracing the covers of the Chinese editions of Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Cosmopolitan, GQ and Vogue, to name a few. She’s also been featured in campaigns for Fendi, Gucci, Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton, and is a founding member of the VS Collective.

With so many accomplishments in both the fashion and sporting worlds under her belt, it’s hard to believe that Gu is just 22 years old. She’s become such an Olympic standout that she’s already carried the torch twice—for Milan in 2026 and Paris in 2024—and she’s built a massive social media following of over 2 million on Instagram, where fans track both her athletic accomplishments and It girl fashion moments.

Looking ahead, Gu shows no signs of slowing down. Whether on the slopes or in front of the camera, she’s poised for a bright future in both skiing and style as she continues to shape the conversation around what it means to be a modern Olympian.

This story was originally published on May 4, 2022

Original story by Jillian Morgan

Additional text by Stephanie Davoli