Gu Ailing Photo: Lu Wenao/GT

Winter Olympic superstar Gu Ailing, also known as Eileen Gu, encouraged young people to embrace sports as a joyful part of daily life rather than merely a means to pass school fitness tests. She shared her own experience with running as a form of relaxation and a way to maintain mental balance.

Speaking at a running promotional event on Tuesday in Beijing, the three-time Olympic freestyle skiing gold medalist encouraged students, particularly those preparing for exams, not to treat exercise as a burden tied to academic requirements.

"I hope all young people, especially those about to take exams, don't exercise only for tests," said Gu in fluent Chinese. 

"Running should be a lifestyle habit. It should be something light and enjoyable, something you do with friends and while enjoying the outdoors."

Gu has achieved remarkable milestones in winter sports. 

After the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, during which she won two gold medals and one silver, Gu continued her dominance at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, earning her another gold in the halfpipe and two additional silver medals in slopestyle and big air. 

Gu described running as one of the simplest and most accessible forms of exercise. With little equipment required beyond a pair of running shoes, she said the sport can be practiced almost anywhere.

"You can run anywhere in the world. You just need a pair of shoes," she said. "Everywhere can become your park."

For the Olympic champion, running also serves as a way to maintain emotional balance. While it is not a specialized component of freestyle skiing training, Gu said it helps her relax and recharge.

"Running for me is almost like meditation," Gu said. "Sometimes if I don't run, I actually feel uncomfortable. The more tired I am, the more I want to go out and run."

She emphasized that running does not have to be exhausting or highly competitive. Instead, she encourages people to take it at a relaxed pace, perhaps even one slow enough to talk with friends.

"Many people think running has to be very hard, with a high heart rate," she said. "But it doesn't have to be like that. You can run easily, maybe a little slower, at a pace where you can talk with friends."

The 22-year-old athlete said running can help young people develop resilience and a stronger mindset, qualities she says are common among long-distance runners.

"I think runners have very strong hearts," she said. "I hope young people can learn that kind of strength through running."

Gu also shared an anecdote about her own attempt at running a marathon, revealing that her preparations were far from ideal. She received confirmation of her entry only about two and a half weeks before the race, leaving little time for proper training.

"I looked up 'How to train for a marathon in two weeks,' and the first answer said, 'Don't do it,'" she joked.

Despite the warning, Gu pushed ahead. She found a professional marathon training plan online and jumping directly into its final weeks, resulting in an intense training load.

"At one point I was running about 130 to 140 kilometers a week," she said. "Before that, I had only been running about 160 kilometers in a whole month, so it was definitely not healthy."

Gu's unusual marathon preparations even continued during her visit to Paris, France, as an Olympic ambassador during the 2024 Summer Games. With tight schedules and heavy traffic between venues, she ran instead of taking transportation.

"I would run from one venue to another, from basketball to badminton to diving," she said. "Paris was very hot and traffic was terrible, so sometimes running was actually faster than driving."

The heat in Paris proved to be one of the biggest challenges during her preparations, but Gu said the experience ultimately strengthened her interest in endurance running. She hopes to train properly for another marathon in the future.

"I really hope next time I can prepare well and run another marathon," she said of her time of 3:24:36. "Maybe I can go a little faster next time."