Why Eileen Gu and Su Yiming remain China’s most valuable winter faces

What happened China’s two biggest winter-sports celebrities — snowboarder Su Yiming and freestyle skier Eileen Gu — delivered headline medals at the Milan–Cortina Winter Olympics, reigniting the post–Beijing 2022 conversation about how athletic moments convert into commercial value. Su, competing at Livigno Snow Park, won men’s snowboard slopestyle gold on his 22nd birthday, scoring 82.41 on his first run and holding the lead in a final where many contenders unraveled under pressure. His victory gave China its first gold of the Games. Gu, meanwhile, added silver medals to her Beijing 2022 haul and went viral off-slope after an interviewer framed her results as “two silvers gained or two golds lost.” Gu pushed back, calling it a “ridiculous” perspective — a clip that ricocheted across global social feeds and Chinese platforms. Gold medal turned viral marketing moment In China, netizens didn’t just celebrate the podiums — they turned them into content. Su’s defining meme came on the medal stand: cameras caught him hurriedly rolling up his sleeve to show off his watch, a moment that shot to Weibo Hot Search under a hashtag roughly translating to “Su Yiming flustered trying to reveal his watch.” Commenters joked that he was “too professional” as an endorser. The watch was widely identified as Cartier, a brand he is publicly associated with. Gu’s viral beat was different: less product placement, more media savvy. Chinese users largely applauded her for framing her silver medals as an achievement rather than a loss. The Jing Take: Eileen Gu and Su Yiming’s endorsement boom Since the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, Gu and Su have remained two of the most sought-after Chinese athletes for brand endorsements. Gu commands endorsement deals on par with global celebrities, spanning luxury and performance brands such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Gucci, IWC, plus Red Bull and Porsche in various markets and media profiles. That breadth signals a star already in a high plateau phase. Su is still gaining global market recognition, and a first-gold moment is exactly the kind of event that accelerates it. He already sits at the intersection of extreme sports credibility and luxury compatibility (a rare combination for male winter athletes in China), with visible ties to brands across sport and lifestyle, including Cartier. Importantly, Su’s slopestyle win was a clean, complete story arc. On his birthday, February 18, he snagged China’s first gold at the Games in a final defined by chaos. In a market where brands increasingly buy certainty — low scandal risk, scarce IP, long competitive runway — Su’s profile checks all the boxes. Gu’s silvers told a different but equally compelling story: resilience. She competed after injury, learning new tricks days before the event, and still stood on the podium. Her ability to articulate that reality calmly and confidently reinforces why she remains one of China’s most respected winter athletes, admired as much for her mindset as her medals. In both cases, the appeal lies not in spectacle alone but in how performance translates into presence. Milan showed that Gu and Su are no longer simply winter athletes who endorse luxury — they are figures through whom luxury can communicate confidence, calm, and cultural relevance in China’s evolving sports and style landscape. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

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Why Eileen Gu and Su Yiming remain China’s most valuable winter faces