Eileen Gu: From the Mountain to the Runway
– 4 min read
Just five days ago, Eileen Gu was throwing herself off a mountain, literally, in her final event at the Winter Olympics – and won the gold medal in free ski halfpipe, to add to her two silver medals in slopestyle and big air. And those three medals are joining her previous two golds and a silver from Beijing in 2022. That’s six medals in all three of her disciplines, cementing her status as a legend in her sport. She’s a phenomenon, actually. Which is why some people get so big mad about her. And ask stupid questions.
We don’t need to get into the stupid questions – this is a lesson we can learn from Eileen who focuses more on what she can control and works, consistently, on her own mind. So the question we should be revisiting is the better one that was asked of her on Sunday, for those of you who haven’t already seen it:
In my experience, over the course of my life, I have allowed myself too many self-defeating thoughts and spent not enough time actively rewiring my brain so that my thoughts can better inform my actions. We can control this, as she says, but it takes practice, it is mental discipline, and while I’m better at it now, back when I was her age, 22, there is no f-cking way I would have been so intentional about my mental exercises. So I’m with the reporter here in marveling at Eileen Gu’s mind. And in addition to being so mentally present, and crazy ass good when she’s throwing herself off the mountain, I mean… look at her.
Eileen is still in Milan for fashion week. That was Bruno Cucinelli, today it’s Prada.
@voguemagazine Olympic gold medalist @Eileen Gu attends the #Prada show at #MilanFashionWeek ♬ original sound - The Washed Athlete
Here’s one for the sports girlies – she was sat next to Caitlin Clarke.
@wnbagotgame Caitlin Clark and Olympic Freestyle Skier Eileen Gu sitting front row at Prada for Milan Fashion Week 👀 Via @parismatch #caitlinclark #eileengu #milanfashionweek ♬ So Easy (To Fall In Love) - Olivia Dean
Also one more thing that makes her singular, something I just texted our Name Therapist, Duana Taha…
How many 22-year-old Eileens do you know? ONE. Eileen is not a name anyone was picking for little girls born in 2003. Duana’s response to that question was “almost none, Eileen is 75”, LOL. And then she flipped back her own question: why *does* she have an Irish name?
Eileen is Irish, yes. But Ai-ling, which how we get to Eileen Gu, is Chinese. It’s really just the closest western name to her Chinese name. In 20 years though, will be talking about famous future Eileens? If so, you know who to trace it back to.
What else happened today…
Another sports girlie, Hilary Knight, calls it what it is. (Celebitchy)
It’s not like I’m not into an offbeat object of desire. Sorry to refer to a person as an “object” here but we’re having a discussion about thirst-traps so, like, objectification is literally the point. SNL’s latest thirst-trap is, apparently, Ben Marshall, who is getting more screentime this season as he’s become a featured performer. Are we trying to say he’s this generation’s Bill Hader? Because, yes, Bill Hader can get it, always. (Pajiba)
I guess we’ll stay with thirst-traps…
Haven’t read this yet… but only because I’m waiting until later, when I have more time, and can ensure that I have ten uninterrupted minutes to myself, maybe with a cocktail, so I can savour every word of Olivia Craighead’s piece on Rob Rausch, who we know from Love Island but who is currently known from The Traitors. Rob, to me, is the Jacob Elordi of reality television. I, personally, don’t get it. But a lot of people around me are losing their f-cking minds. (The Cut)
This photo of Lisa Rinna, to me, is giving what Lauren Sánchez Bezos wishes she could give. Lisa, I know, is polarising, but also there’s a don’t give a f-ckness about her that Lauren could never. (Go Fug Yourself)
And Lisa Rinna is out here in these streets spilling tea about Leonardo DiCaprio. (EW)
Eileen Gu at the Prada fashion show during the Milan Womenswear Fall/Winter 2026/2027 Fashion Week on February 26, 2026 in Milan, Italy
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