GOLDEN GIRL

First, the slopes; then, the runways. What new peaks will Eileen Gu conquer next? The history-making freestyle skier and one of fashion’s most sought-after faces opens up about overcoming doubt and inspiring a whole generation of girls.

- Jeffrey Yan

To say that Eileen Gu has had a huge year would be a serious understatement. In February, she made history at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 as the first athlete to nab medals in three different freestyle skiing events with her haul of two golds and one silver on her debut Winter Olympics outing, no less. In May, she took to the runway for Nicolas Ghesquière's epic cruise 2023 show for Louis Vuitton in San Diego (Gu has also racked up campaigns and endorsement deals with Tiffany & Co. and IWC). In September, she started a new chapter of her life-as a full-time student at Stanford University, one of the most prestigious learning institutions in the world. All this, before even turning 20.

When we finally got a hold of her, Gu was in the midst of writing a 12-page essay for her midterms. Juggling and excelling at so many different things must take superhuman effort, but Gu isn't fazed. In fact, she welcomes the challenge. "I've always been a huge proponent of balancing all the different aspects of your life. Especially for a young ete, I think it's so important to stay in a full-time regular school, instead of home-schooling or attending a specialised athletic school, because the benefits you get from being in a classroom environment with peers your own age is so meaningful in those formative years. At a place like Stanford, where everybody is so interesting and brilliant, being able to have those experiences is really enriching. You get that diversity of opinion and people seeing you as a peer instead of whatever else you have going on outside of school. That gives me a lot of great perspective about myself and the world," she says.