There’s little doubt that Eileen Gu has been one of many breakout stars of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic Video games. The Chinese language freestyle skier has already received two silver medals in slopestyle and massive air, and is now aiming to defend her Olympic halfpipe title from Beijing 2022 this weekend.
Between three freestyle snowboarding occasions and a number of qualification rounds unfold over a number of weeks, Gu’s schedule has been packed. After profitable silver in girls’s massive air, she was requested by a reporter how she manages such a rigorous schedule. She credited working.
“Because of this I run rather a lot,” Gu informed the reporter. “I do three occasions, so I construct up my VO2 max, so I can go back-to-back-to-back and compete for 3 weeks with no off days.”
For Gu, distance working appears to be greater than only a pastime; it’s the key behind her endurance. In a 2024 interview on the Chinese language social media platform Douyin, she talked about she had been working as much as 10 miles per day whereas making ready for her first marathon in August 2024.
On the inaugural Marathon Pour Tous throughout the 2024 Summer time Olympics, Gu ran 3:24:36, ending inside the highest 200 girls in a mass‑participation discipline of greater than 10,000 beginner runners on the Olympic marathon course.
The 22-year-old, who research worldwide relations at Stanford College, has been a lifelong runner. As a young person rising up in California, she often competed within the iconic Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. In 2022, she accomplished her first half-marathon throughout San Francisco Marathon weekend, ending second in her age class in 1:41:07.
Whereas freestyle snowboarding isn’t sometimes considered an endurance sport, Gu’s cardio engine provides her a quiet edge in restoration and in sustaining energy throughout three consecutive runs wanted for the slopestyle, massive air and half pipe occasions.