Eileen Gu is skiing all the way to the bank — but she doesn’t necessarily have her sport to thank for that.
The American-born freestyle skier, who was at the center of controversy during the 2022 Winter Games over her decision to represent China, has made a whopping $23 million from off-field endorsements and has netted an estimated $100,000 from competitions, according to a December report from Forbes highlighting the world’s highest-paid female athletes.
Gu, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, earned about $40,000 for World Cup slopestyle and halfpipe triumphs in January 2025 and December 2025, respectively, according to Forbes.
She also took home $55,000 for a top finish in the freeskiing halfpipe event at Event Two: China in the Snow League in December.
Beyond the slopes, Gu, 22, has modeled for luxe brands like Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton.
Represented by IMG Models, Gu also boasts a lengthy list of endorsements, ranging from Porsche, Red Bull and IWC Schaffhausen, per Forbes.
The 2026 Milan Cortina Games mark Gu’s second Olympics.
She made her debut in Beijing four years ago, where she won gold in the women’s freeski big air and in the women’s freeski halfpipe. She earned silver in the women’s freeski slopestyle.
Gu is one of the buzziest Olympians entering this year’s games.
The daughter of an American father and a Chinese mother, Gu made waves in 2019 when she announced her decision to compete for China.
“I am proud of my heritage, and equally proud of my American upbringings. The opportunity to help inspire millions of young people where my mom was born, during the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help to promote the sport I love. Through skiing, I hope to unite people, promote common understanding, create communication, and forge friendships between nations. If I can help to inspire one young girl to break a boundary, my wishes will have come true,” she wrote on Instagram at the time.
Gu expanded on her decision in an interview with TIME.
“The U.S. already has the representation,” she said of freestyle skiing. “I like building my own pond.”
Entering her second Olympics, Gu has more than medals on her mind.
“Coming into my second Olympics as the same person in many ways, and also changed in some others. At my core, the mission remains the same – to introduce freeskiing to more young people (especially girls), to push women’s skiing and represent it honorably on the world stage, and to enjoy this once in a lifetime experience (every Olympics is a once in a lifetime experience),” she wrote Tuesday on Instagram.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
