It was a bolt from the blue! For many fans, watching SuperPipe phenome Eileen Gu at the Winter X Games Aspen 2025 was the single biggest attraction. However, on the second day of the tournament, the Chinese national athlete took a tumble, causing hearts to skip a beat all over the world. As a result, Gu had to withdraw from the two remaining competitions of the day, and it seems like she’s not out of the woods yet, either.

The San Francisco native arrived at Buttermilk Mountain in hopes of defending her SuperPipe gold from last year. The 2x Olympic gold medalist skier also entered several other events in Aspen this year, including the street style, the newest event to be added to the Winter X Games. However, that was the exact competition that proved to be a pothole Eileen Gu couldn’t meander around. But will it become a problem for her for the next big tournament as well?

In her recent Instagram story from January 25, Eileen shared an update on her condition. “Unfortunately still having too much pain walking to feel comfortable,” she notes in her social media update, revealing that she won’t be participating in the Women’s Ski Slopestyle on Saturday either. However, the allure of the SuperPipe is too strong for her to ignore altogether, and Gu said that she would be “joining the host set for the men’s pipe later tonight“.

Thanking her fans for their well wishes and encouragement during the trying times, the 21-year-old skiing sensation went on to highlight that getting back to full health is the primary focus right now. With the World Cup returning to action in early February, Gu needs to get back to her groove for the Big Air and Halfpipe events again. “…hoping to get back into it in the World Cup next week,” she wrote in her IG story, making it clear that the injury won’t be the end of the season for her in any way.

When Gu shared on Instagram yesterday that her hectic schedule made the Winter X Games 2025 a “rough time” for her, fans were already concerned. On top of that, she also revealed that she was suffering from a fever just days before showing up in Aspen, making things all the more difficult. However, knowing how she overcame challenges to win gold at the Buttermilk last year as well, fans were somewhat still expecting to see her pull off another miraculous victory to defend her SuperPipe gold from 2024. But that didn’t work out, and now, all eyes will be on the next few days to see if Eileen’s misfortune continues to shape her 2024-25 season.

Eileen Gu looking to make a comeback, and soon

The freestyle skiing celebrity missed all Big Air competitions last season, but with a Halfpipe victory to her name still, she remained a threat for this year’s World Cup as well. Gu won all three halfpipe events of the 2024/25 Freestyle Ski World Cup. Moreover, she also won the Slopestyle at the iconic Laax in January this year. Currently, she’s topping the charts in the Park & Pipe with 400 points and the Halfpipe with 300 points. The next leg of the Slopestyle and Halfpipe events of the World Cup will take place in Aspen in the first couple of days in February, and it looks like Eileen wants to return to her natural habitat at the very place that crushed her Winter X Games 2025 dreams.

However, that doesn’t mean that Aspen was any less exciting with Gu’s absence. On Friday, Cassie Sharpe bagged the SuperPipe gold, while the top spot in the Big Air went to Flora Tabanelli. On the last day of the tournament, France’s Tess Ledeux picked up the gold in the Women’s Ski Slopestyle and will head to the World Cup with renewed gusto. Which among these incredible skiers do you think will be waiting to take advantage of Eileen’s injury at the upcoming World Cup events? Tell us in a comment!