LIVIGNO, Italy
Eileen Gu wants to do something no other female freeskier is attempting at these Winter Olympics. She says the sport’s governing body is making her pay for it.
After qualifying for the big air final on Saturday, the 22-year-old star revealed her frustration with a packed schedule that threatens to shortchange her preparation for her third and final event: the halfpipe.
Gu, who already secured silver in slopestyle earlier this week, is the only woman in the field entered in all three freeski disciplines—slopestyle, halfpipe, and big air. But the ambitious program comes with a logistical catch.
Monday’s big air final directly overlaps with the first of three scheduled halfpipe training sessions, meaning Gu will miss a critical block of practice time that her competitors in that event will receive.
She reached out to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), which sets the Olympic schedule, seeking a solution.
Gu emphasized she wasn’t asking for special treatment, just the same amount of practice as everyone else. She even proposed compromises, such as joining the snowboarders for their halfpipe training sessions.
The response, she said, was a firm no.
FIS told her it could not alter the schedule for a single athlete, citing fairness to the rest of the field.
“I’m disappointed in FIS,” Gu told reporters, her voice carrying the weight of an athlete caught between ambition and bureaucracy.
“I think the Olympics should epitomize aspiration, and I think being able to do something that’s beyond the ordinary should be celebrated instead of punished.”
For Gu—one of the biggest names at the Milan Cortina Games—the scheduling conflict turns what should be a showcase of versatility into a test of endurance.
While her rivals in the halfpipe will have hours of training to fine-tune their runs, she will be competing for a medal in big air, then scrambling to catch up.
By James Kisoo
