The Milan-Cortina Olympic campaign for Eileen Gu ’26 began the same way her 2022 Beijing breakthrough did: on a slopestyle podium with another silver medal, making her the first Stanford athlete to earn a medal in the 2026 Olympics.

Gu, an American-born freeskier who competes for her mother’s homeland of China, finished second on Monday in the women’s slopestyle final, just 0.38 points behind Switzerland’s defending gold-medalist Mathilde Gremaud. Monday’s performance gave Gu her fourth Olympic medal of her career and her second-straight silver in slopestyle. 

Although the San Francisco native was unable to notch gold in what she later said was her best slopestyle performance ever, Gu expressed pride in her performance in a recent interview on “The Today Show.”

“That’s what is so magical about this sport,” Gu told the show. “You can really conceptualize something before it even becomes possible. I’m asking my body to do something it has never done before, in the moment of highest pressure when everything is on the line. That’s what made me so proud to perform yesterday.”

Gu’s journey through this year’s Winter Olympics has just begun. In a Games schedule built to test even the most seasoned athletes, Gu may face the greatest challenges. The international relations major is entered in all three women’s freeski events, which means there is little margin for error as Gu pivots from slopestyle to big air and then to halfpipe, where she is expected to compete for another medal. 

“It’s a really chaotic schedule,” Gu said. “For me especially, as the only female skier competing in all three [events], it’s a mental game and it comes down to strategy and being able to manage things effectively.”

Big air, in particular, remains the biggest unknown for Gu. She has not competed in the event since 2022.

“That is a big question mark,” said Gu about competing in big air. “I didn’t even know if I was going to be competing, but I’m going to take it one step at a time.” 

Gu will not have much time to gather herself as the big air qualifying runs will occur on Saturday, followed by the final runs next Monday. Just a few days later, on Feb. 19, Gu will go through qualifying runs for the halfpipe event, setting the stage for the final runs on Feb. 21. 

Thanks to a packed schedule, Gu has the chance to rack up another two Olympic medals in less than a span of two weeks. Gu would match the trio of medals she earned in the 2022 Olympics if she is able to secure podium finishes in her two remaining events.