Overview
- Eileen Gu qualified second for the Olympic freeski big air final with 170.75 points after crashing on her second run, trailing Canada’s Megan Oldham and ahead of Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud; the final is set for Monday.
- Gu, born in San Francisco and competing for China since 2019, already claimed slopestyle silver at the Milano-Cortina Games.
- She criticized the event timetable as “punishing excellence,” saying big air commitments cut into scheduled halfpipe training and that her requests to adjust practice time were rejected.
- A Wall Street Journal report, cited by Yahoo Sports, says a Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau budget listed nearly $14 million in payments over recent years to U.S.-born athletes including Gu and figure skater Zhu Yi, before the names were removed from the public document.
- Sportico/Forbes estimates place Gu’s 2025 earnings at about $23 million largely from endorsements, and U.S. opinion columns have renewed criticism of her decision to represent China.