The Athletic’s players are streaming live 2026 Winter Olympics.

Forbes magazine’s 2025 list of the world’s highest-paid female athletes includes an outlier.

Tennis star Coco Gauff tops the list with an estimated $33 million, followed by peers Aryna Sabalenka ($30 million) and Iga Swiatek ($25.1 million), followed by Irene Gu. The main trio are well-known celebrities in the sports world, but freestyle skier Goo is not, but how much does she earn? $23.1 million.

Every year since the 22-year-old won a gold medal and two silver medals in big air, halfpipe and slopestyle at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and became the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing at 18, she has ranked in the top five highest-paid female athletes.

Forbes magazine’s latest rankings place her ahead of tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Madison Keys and basketball star Caitlin Clark, but the next Winter Olympian on the list is Lindsey Vonn, 41, who ranks tied for 18th place and earns $15 million less than Gu.

The all-time leader in freeski World Cup wins will defend his big air and halfpipe titles at the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina this month. But despite the medals and wins, the 2026 Olympic torchbearer made $100,000 skiing last year. That $23 million comes from her high-priced endorsements off the field, which dwarfs any other athlete aside from Gauff.

Gu is a model for IMG and has walked the runways for brands such as Victoria’s Secret and Louis Vuitton. It’s no surprise that the majority of her income comes from off-field endorsements, which is the norm in most women’s sports as exposure increases faster than pay.

Since 2007, the Grand Slam tournaments have paid equal prize money to men and women, so while tennis has the highest on-court revenue, this is not the case for smaller tournaments. Gauff earned $8 million on court, Sabalenka earned $15 million, matching her sports income, and Swiatek earned $10.1 million.

Most female athletes’ base salaries may be low, but they are highly marketable.

“They have the celebrity appeal of being a big name in sports, which makes them perfect brand advocates,” said Josh Hirschman, global COO of London-based sports marketing agency Ten Tuz. “If you compare the budgets of the Arsenal women’s team and the men’s team, they are not the same, but the brand budget for celebrity engagement is the same.”

Gu Ailing, also known by her Chinese name Gu Ailing, was born and raised in San Francisco but switched to representing her mother’s country, China, in 2019. In the ski world, she’s known for her high-scoring landings and difficult corkscrew maneuvers that make your stomach turn just looking at them. But another fascinating aspect is how she became such a commercial powerhouse.

Her talent as a promising teenage skier made her stand out, but likewise, despite being 16 years old, she appeared on the cover of six different fashion magazines after visiting China one summer.

Hirschman, who works with top sports talent, brands and rights holders, describes her as a “perfect storm” from a commercial standpoint.

Gu, who won two gold medals and one silver medal at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics and was then the youngest person to be named to Forbes China’s 30 Under 30 list at the age of 17, has many factors that contribute to commercial success, independent of skiing success.

Thanks to his American and Chinese pedigree, Gu has appeal in two of the world’s biggest markets. As of early 2026, Gu has over 7 million followers her Weibo accountis a Chinese social media platform with 5 million more pages than her English version Instagram page. Even though freestyle skiing is not a major sport in either country, her commercial potential is huge.

“If you have athletes in both markets with real, authentic stories, you’re going to be a winner,” Hirschman said.

In the lead-up to the 2022 Beijing Olympics, her portfolio of sponsorships has grown beyond the ski world. She covered billboards all over China’s capital, but since then her portfolio has become more selective and focused on a core group of partners.

GU has long-term endorsement deals covering fashion and luxury goods with Western brands such as Porsche, Red Bull and Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen, as well as Chinese brands such as Anta Sports, Bo Siteng Jackets, Meng Dairy Industry and, most recently, TCL Electronics. she recently said American news magazine “TIME” The financial considerations involved in representing a Chinese company were never something she considered in her decision to switch allegiance.

Crossing the border between China and the United States is difficult. Gu has faced criticism for being selected to represent China. For example, before the 2022 Beijing Olympics, right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson, then on Fox News, called her choices “stupid,” and the station’s co-host Will Cain said she was “ungrateful” and “betrayed America.” In June 2025, Mr. Gu said: burnout podcast, It was hosted by two former Stanford University students, who initially felt sad, misunderstood, and disappointed upon hearing such comments.

“That’s when I felt really angry,” she added. “Who are you to let me go online on this big platform? At least invite me to the debate. Let me defend myself. At least let me tell my story. It’s unfair to bully me one-sidedly. I don’t like that.”

On the other hand, the English newspaper of the same year was South China Morning Post Chinese internet users reportedly described Gu as “unpatriotic” and “two-faced.”

In response to the criticism, she told her 20 million followers on video-sharing platform TikTok’s Chinese version of Douyin: “In the past five years, I have represented China in 41 international competitions and won 39 medals.” “I introduced three chief coaches, donated freestyle skis to the national team, and have continued to advocate for China and women on the world stage. What have you done for this country?”

In a 2022 interview with The New York Times, Ms. Gu declined to comment when asked about her citizenship status. Although China prohibits dual citizenship, the Times article said there were no official records showing Gu had renounced his American citizenship. Her representative declined to comment when contacted. The Athletic Ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics. In several interviews over the years, she has claimed, “When I’m in the United States, I’m American, but when I’m in China, I’m Chinese.”

As cliché as it may sound, Goo has cultivated his profile in a way that makes him relatable to younger audiences. In addition to sophisticated Vogue and Elle photo shoots, mirror selfies and scribbled diary entries are also posted on social media. Her daily routine used to be to sit in the makeup chair and do her homework.

One month after the Winter Olympics, videos from the day show her cooling down with dry ski training and a 5km run, and there are also photos of her eating in her car and reading while hooked up to an oxygen therapy room.

While not all 22-year-olds have studied at Stanford or Oxford, done backflips on ski slopes, posed for Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue or been named to Time’s 100 Most Influential People, Hirschman said, “For so many young people, that’s going to be an aspiration.”

As a young athlete at the top of the sports world with an East-West crossover, she’s highly marketable even without a compelling backstory.

When she was young, skiing was just a weekend hobby for Gu (her mother, Yang, was a part-time ski instructor). She started her professional career when she was a teenager. The 15-year-old won her first Junior World Cup in Italy in 2019 with the U.S. team.

Six years later, Gu went into the final run in second place in deteriorating conditions and went all-out to land tricks in the first halfpipe event of the FIS Freestyle Skiing 2025-26 season held at Secret Garden in China in December, winning his 19th World Cup. He made a successful comeback after being injured in January last year, forcing him to miss the Asian Winter Games and the World Championships.

“I’ve been training a lot and working hard, and every time I stay in extra time and make an extra run, it’s proof to myself, proof to myself that I’m a winner and I deserve to win.” She spoke to the media after her win at Secret Garden. “I train like I’ve never won and I compete like I’ve never lost.”

What drives her ambition is her work ethic. After all, she can’t afford to be thinking about her endorsement deals when performing unprecedented tricks more than 20 feet in the air.

Hirschman believes that even if Gu stopped skiing tomorrow, she would still have commercial value.

“In the modern world, people increasingly love celebrity culture and the ability to relate to individuals across brands, teams and leagues,” Hirschman said. “…Now she has a public profile and is doing a great job of maximizing it.”

As part of a handwritten diary she posted on Instagram in January, Gu wrote: “My work is meaningful not only because it has a positive impact on my own mind and body, but also because it comes with the added privilege of influencing others and contributing to the legacy of sport.”

“Soaking in its size is the ultimate luxury.”

Most people would want the money, but for Gu the medal seems to mean the most.