Eileen Gu Bolsters Accomplishments With Paris Marathon Performance

As people, we tend to dream of future accomplishments: buying that first house, getting the job, finding a lifetime partner, summiting a distant peak, winning whatever it is we pursue competitively, or writing a book.

On average—if we’re lucky—we might only add a few of these milestones to the metaphorical trophy case. Two or three grand successes are plenty for a lifetime—unless you’re Eileen Gu.

Over the weekend, the Olympic-champion freeskier shared news of her participation in the Marathon Pour Tous, a public race that had the same path as the Paris 2024 Olympic marathon. The event, held the evening of August 10th, was a historic first, allowing members of the public to enjoy—or suffer—the same course as the Olympic athletes.

After the race, Gu provided a detailed breakdown of her time and splits. She finished the marathon in three hours, 24 minutes, and 37 seconds, averaging a mile split time of seven minutes and 45 seconds. For context: that’s pretty dang fast. While the winning male and female Olympic marathoners completed the race in just over two hours, the average runner takes four or more hours.

Before the Marathon Pour Tous, Gu, who was a torchbearer for the Paris Games , told reporters that this would be her first marathon. At the time of the story late last month, she’d trained for three weeks. Normally, prospective marathoners prep for as much as 20 weeks, fitness dependent.

Pivoting from freeskiing to marathoning on a tight deadline is impressive enough, but it becomes more absurd when you tally the rest of Gu’s accomplishments. During the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, she secured three Olympic medals across multiple freeskiing disciplines: big air, halfpipe and slopestyle. Two of those medals were gold.

It goes on and on. Forbes, in 2023, reported that Gu was the second highest-paid female athlete with $22.1 million in earnings. She’s also a Stanford University student, a high-profile model, and a member of the Time 100 Most Influential People of 2022 list. Did I mention she’s 20 years old? Notching a strong marathon time might be impressive for us more regular folk, but for Gu, it seems to be just another step in her apparent path toward world domination.

As one commenter below her Instagram post about the Paris marathon put it, “I meannn the woman is just unstoppable!!”

Related: Winter Park Unveils Plans for New Terrain, Lifts, and Upgraded Base Village

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