LIVIGNO, Italy – Eileen Gu said Tuesday that she is entering her second Olympics with a renewed love for skiing and a fresh approach to her sport, after feeling stuck in recent years.

The 22-year-old freestyle skier acknowledged that the past year had been challenging due to injuries, limited training, and the demands of full-time studies, leaving her to “live contest to contest.”

“Now I feel this renewed sense of infatuation with skiing itself, with competing for the sake of sportsmanship and Olympic values,” Gu wrote in a long Instagram post, accompanied by photos of her in Livigno, northern Italy, where women’s freestyle races will begin on February 7.

“No matter what results will follow, I am here to have the most fun and be fully present in this experience,” she added.

Gu balances professional training with her studies at Stanford, alongside a high-profile modeling and sponsorship portfolio. She said her change in mindset began after the Secret Garden World Cup in Zhangjiakou, China, last December.

The double Olympic champion made history at the Beijing 2022 Games, becoming the first athlete to win three freestyle skiing medals at a single Olympics, earning gold in big air and halfpipe, and silver in slopestyle.

Born in San Francisco to an American father and Chinese mother, Gu initially represented the U.S. early in her career. In 2019, she decided to compete for China, ahead of her Olympic debut in Beijing.

Although her choice to represent China remains controversial, Gu views it as a personal mission to develop freestyle skiing in China, where interest in winter sports has surged since her Beijing triumph. -Reporting by Giulia Segreti in Livigno, editing by Ed Osmond/Reuters