Stanford's Eileen Gu Medals (Again) in Milan

Making headlines in 2022 at the Beijing Olympics, Eileen Gu headed to Milan with a lot more to prove in 2026. A three-time medalist last Olympics, Gu was ready to continue her ascent into superstardom and deliver another impressive showing at the 2026 Olympics while representing her mother's home nation of China.

And so far, Gu's 2026 Olympics have gone fairly well, with the only nit to pick being that this time, she is in danger of leaving Milan-Cortina without a gold medal to show for her efforts.

Taking home another silver medal in slopestyle, an event that she won silver in in 2022, Gu came ready to go for her signature event, women's freestyle big air. But thanks to a dominant performance from Canada's Megan Oldham, Gu was unable to defend her title, taking home the silver medal in big air instead.

Each skier got three runs in the final, with the top two scores being combined for each skier. And after Gu scored a 90.00 on her first run-- putting her in third place-- she locked in ahead of her final two runs, eager to jump up to the top spot. But when her second run came, a fatal mistake left Gu scrambling to be perfect on her final run, or else her gold medal dreams would be over.

Coming off a jump on her second run, Gu was unable to grab the tail of her ski cleanly, affecting her landing and giving her a massive score deduction. Earning a score of 61.25 on her second run, Gu needed her final run to be spot on. At the end of her second run, Gu was out of a medal spot and sitting in fourth place.

On her final run, Gu scored an 89.00, giving her a total score of 179.00. However, Gu's second run mistake proved costly, putting her 1.75 points below Oldham for the gold. But when asked about her second place finish, Gu was upbeat, alluding to her five Olympic medals in two appearances at the Games.

"Five-time Olympic medalist’ kind of has a nice ring to it," Gu said after the event.

But Gu's silver medal is also a very good result considering how packed her Olympic schedule is. The only three-event athlete in skiiing, Gu called out the International Ski and Snowboard Federation prior to her big air event, saying how the tight schedule of events prevents her from training the way that she needs to for her competitions.

"I’m disappointed in FIS," Gu added. "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. I think it’s really unfair. I think it’s punishing excellence, to be completely honest with you. Because I dare to do three events, and this is making it completely impossible to train fairly for the third event."

In her third and final event, the women's freeski halfpipe, she'll be going up against Zoe Atkin, another Stanford undergrad, who is competing for Great Britain. The two will participate in the qualifications for the event on Thursday, February 19, with the finals for the event being held on Saturday.