16-year-old professional freeskier Eileen Gu takes some midsummer hot laps on Mama Hood! Clearly a summery, slush terrain park is this gal’s natural habitat.
About Eileen Gu
Eileen Gu – also known by her Chinese name, Gu Ailing – was born in 2003 in San Francisco. Her father is an American and mother is Chinese.
Eileen started skiing when she was only three years old and she became champion of the junior group of the USA Snowboard and Freeski Association at the age of nine, before entering the senior ranks when she was just 13.
Eileen earned her first World Cup victory at the FIS Freeski World Cup slopestyle in Seiser Alm, Italy, when she was 15 in January, 2019 and then on June 7 of the same year, Gu announced her naturalisation as a Chinese citizen on her Instagram account.
“I have decided to compete for China in the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics,” the post said. (Eileen had been competing for the US in international events since the 2017/2018 season.)
Eileen’s goal in preparation for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games was to graduate after completing two years of high school in just one year.
“The nearest ski resort is four hours’ drive from where I live now. If I can graduate from high school next year, I will spend more time on my training to better prepare for the Games,” she says.
With those games in mind, she put down a real statement of intent at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland, taking halfpipe gold and slopestyle silver.
In addition to skiing, Eileen loves horse riding, rock climbing, basketball and races competitively in cross country running and track events.
— Red Bull
