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ASPEN, Colo. — Two years after exploding onto the world stage at the Beijing Winter Games, Eileen Gu is more than an Olympic champion. She's a straight-A student at Stanford and a fashion model who's as comfortable on a catwalk as a halfpipe. In 2026, the American-born skier plans to return to the Olympics, where she'll compete for her mother's home country of China, just as she did in 2022. She insists it's the right thing because she'll influence more young girls that way. In an interview at the X Games, she tells the AP she wants to remain an advocate in the ever-growing world of women's sports. She says she's been inspired by 11- and 12-year-old girls who say seeing her win gold helped define their own futures.
