What do you do when you see a crash imminent? You just brace yourself and hope for the best. And that’s exactly what Eileen Gu tried to do when her Streetstyle performance at the Winter X Games 2025 went awry. The two-time Olympic gold medalist incurred a major injury on the second day of the competition in Aspen and had to pull out from the rest of the tournament. And yet, when all her thoughts should have been devoted to ensuring her own safety during the incident, she had something else on her mind altogether.

For many fans, Gu was the most anticipated star this year at Buttermilk Mountain. The defending SuperPipe Winter X Games champ was expected to retain the title, but she didn’t even get the chance to do so. However, even after Eileen had to withdraw from the tournament, fans didn’t fail to show her their love. On the other hand, the San Francisco native also tried her best to ensure the fans’ safety even when she faced the horror tumble.

In the Winter X Games 2025 Aspen live stream on YouTube, Gu showed up to talk about what was going through her head during the moments just before the crash. Realizing that her take-off wasn’t a great one, Eileen took the necessary precautions immediately. “I took off and kind of knew that I was on the wrong axis and so, I pretty much spent most of my time in the air to prepare for landing,” she told the interview host, mentioning that protecting herself from the fence below was a major concern.

She went on to candidly elaborate on how the audience was shocked by her crash and wanted to know if she hit her head. Recalling the moment, Eileen Gu joked, “I was fine. I just thought I was gonna go bowling ball-style and wreck the entire audience. And so, you know, I was just trying to protect myself, protect them. it was pretty brutal.” Looking at how she coiled her body into a fetal position to minimize the crash’s impacts, we’d say she did a pretty good job, too!

She went on to say that her hectic schedule in recent days, especially how things are planned at this year’s Winter X Games Aspen, didn’t help her performance in the streetstyle either. “My energy really hit 0. In this new format between my qualifier and final, I had like 10 minutes, and I really just crashed. I didn’t really feel like I was skiing like myself,” she said during the conversation. However, it seemed like the fact that she didn’t crash into anyone made her feel more relieved than the fact that she wasn’t injured, “I got to stay safe, the audience stayed safe, I didn’t take out any bowling pins,” she said with a grin. But Gu doesn’t have enough time to feel the glee. Now that Eileen is on her recovery journey, she has to turn her gaze to the next task.

Eileen Gu is already looking to reclaim her throne

The Freestyle Ski World Cup will return to action next week, and the Chinese national skier will look to get back to the element again. While she didn’t participate in any  Big Air events last season, knowing what she can come up with when she needs to make her a formidable threat to Eileen’s opponents. She has won three halfpipe events in the World Cup this season and has also bagged gold in Slopestyle in Laax in January. She is also currently at the top spot in Park & Pipe with 400 points and the Halfpipe with 300 points and will look to retain the momentum when the World Cup resumes in Aspen next week.

In her recent IG update, Gu also noted her determination to compete at the World Cup. “…hoping to get back into it in the World Cup next week,” the skier wrote in her Instagram story and thanked her fans for their support during her troubled times in Colorado. But will the injury make its impact felt on Eileen Gu’s performance in early February as well? What do you reckon? Tell us in a comment below!