Ailing Eileen GU

Historical Results

Nicknamed “Snow princess" from her 1.3 million fans on Weibo (Frog Princess Ailing", a reference to a green helmet she once wore). (aydintepemedya.com, 2021)

Accomplished piano player. Likes to hang out with her friends. She is shy to admit she is a food connoisseur. (olympics.nbcsports.com, 1 Feb 2021; forbes.com, Feb 2021)

Athlete, Student, Part-time model

Graduated from San Francisco University High School in three years.
Enrolled at Stanford University (USA), starting in 2022. (olympics.nbcsports.com, 1 Feb 2021)

Mother Yan.

English, Mandarin

Beijing Nanshan Ski Resort

National: Elana Chase (USA)

Athletics: Was a member of her high school track team that finished second at the state championships. (olympics.nbcsports.com, 1 Feb 2021)

2018 World Cup in Stubai (Slopestyle -11th)

2021: Fractured index finger (metacarpal) and torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in her thumb while training after the X Games and falling on a rail. Surgery was delayed because of Covid-19 and all events were scheduled back-to-back. Competed at the World Championships with a custom hard cast, which meant holding poles was an impossibility. Won three medals without the use of poles for the first time in her career (needed to compete to get the competition experience, points, and rankings), "I kind of need to do it now especially in the lead-up to the Olympics. I’m just going to wait until the end of the season and get recovered before the end of this year.” Had surgery in April 2021, followed by six weeks of recovery. (redbull.com, 20 Mar 2021)

Broken Hand: Refused to let the doctor put a cast on it because she had a photoshoot for SuperElle (China) the following week. (aydintepemedya.com)

2019

Started skiing at age eight at Northstar in Tahoe, California, United States of America, during weekend trips (four-hour round trip drives from her home in San Francisco) with her mom, and was drawn to slopestyle. But since slopestyle competitions meant occasionally skipping school for a day or two, she optimised her time and tried halfpipe, too.

At the age of nine, she won the championship of the girls' group in the U.S. national skiing tournament. Began to attend international competitions on behalf of the U.S. from the 2017/18 season. In September 2019, she competed in her first halfpipe World Cup and finished second.

On one of her yearly trips to China as a child, she found a small indoor ski resort with a trampoline that she could practise on. (onherturf.nbcsports.com, 11 Mar 2021)

Mother enrolled her in free skiing thinking it was safer than racing because it was too dangerous. (Redbull Show, 27 Mar 2020)

At the 2020 World Cup in Calgary, she was the first athlete to step on the podium in two different disciplines, halfpipe and slopestyle, one day after the day.

"I love thinking about Calgary, it was an absolute dream come true. I had pipe first, so I remember I was doing pipe qualifiers and slope qualifiers and then I had pipe finals and then slope finals the next morning I had qualified first into pipe finals and second into slope finals and my goal was to podium at both. When I was able to put down probably the best halfpipe run that I had ever done at that point in competition, it absolutely blew my mind, I got a 94, I will never forget seeing that score on the board, my jaw dropped, it was amazing." (FIS YouTube Channel, Dec 2020)

Freestyle skier Bobby Brown (USA), three-time Winter X Games champion. She first met him at age nine and he signed a poster for her. (Redbull Show, 27 Mar 2020)

Her mother taught her ambition and work ethic. (Instagram)

Her grandmother. The energy and drive "to do your best" was instilled in her from an early age by her 85-year-old grandma, Guo Zhenseng. "She's invincible, I'm convinced she is immortal." (chinadaily.com.cn, 3 Feb 2021)

Says her mother and grandmother are “by far the two biggest influences in my life – both of them are the definition of empowered women, to the max." (scmp.com, 1 May 2021)

Before dropping in the halfpipe she has to do two pole taps behind herself, and then two leg taps, two shoulder lift things and shake her head either side. “Not having poles (at the 2021 World Championships) totally shook me up and my first day I was dropping into halfpipe without poles was my qualifier event and I barely made it into the finals.” (redbull.com, 20 Mar 2021)

"Live for yourself because no one is living for you." (Redbull Show, 27 Mar 2020)