Gravity? Never Heard of Her: Inside the Mathilde Gremaud Machine
She turned 26 yesterday. Today, she drops into the Livigno course to defend her Olympic gold. But Mathilde Gremaud isn’t just skiing against Eileen Gu; she’s skiing against the laws of physics. Here’s how the Swiss sensation rewired the sport.
Picture this. You’re standing on top of a snow-covered skyscraper in Livigno, Italy. It’s Monday, February 9, 2026. The air is so thin it feels like you’re breathing through a straw. Below you lies a course of rails and jumps that look like they were designed by a mad architect. You just celebrated your 26th birthday yesterday with a protein shake and a nap. Now, the world expects you to throw your body off a ramp, spin four times, flip twice, and land backwards.
Welcome to Mathilde Gremaud’s Monday morning.
If you’ve been watching the Winter Games from your couch (probably with a meat pie in one hand), you might think freestyle skiing is just chaos on skis. It isn’t. It’s calculated insanity. And right now, nobody calculates it better than the pride of Fribourg, Switzerland.
"I’m not trying to be better than the others. I’m trying to be better than the voice in my head that says it’s impossible." – Mathilde Gremaud (2025)
The Art of the "Switch"
Let’s break it down, pedagogue-style. The reason Gremaud is a phenomenon isn’t just that she jumps high. It’s that she lives her life in reverse. In 2020, she became the first woman to stomp a Switch Double Cork 1440.
Sounds like a drink order, right? It’s not.
"Switch" means she takes off skiing backwards. (Try walking backwards down your driveway without tripping, then imagine doing it at 80km/h). "Double Cork" means she goes off-axis twice—dipping her head under her feet like a spinning coin. "1440" is the degrees of rotation. Four full spins. Blind.
Most skiers pray to survive that trick. Gremaud makes it look like she’s parking a Corolla.
The Perfect Storm (and the Crash)
To understand the pressure on her shoulders today in Milano Cortina, you have to rewind to the 2023/2024 season. It was, simply put, ridiculous. She did what no woman had ever done: she won three Crystal Globes in a single winter.
She didn't just win; she cleaned house. But here’s the thing rarely mentioned on the broadcast—success is heavy. After that perfect season, Gremaud crashed. Not on the snow, but mentally. She spoke openly about the "dark period" where the tank was empty. She wasn’t a robot; she was a human who had completed the game and didn’t know what level to play next.
Seeing her back in the start gate today, smiling, is the real victory. She’s not skiing for points anymore; she’s skiing for flow.
Gremaud by the Numbers
If you reckon it’s just luck, look at the stats. The consistency is frightening compared to the field.
| Metric | The Gremaud Standard | Typical Elite Skier |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal Globes (2024) | 3 (Overall, Slopestyle, Big Air) | 0-1 |
| Signature Move | Switch Double Cork 1440 | Double Cork 1080/1260 |
| Olympic Medals (Pre-2026) | Gold (2022), Silver (2018), Bronze (2022) | Rarely multi-discipline |
The Duel in the Dolomites
Today isn't a solo exhibition, though. It’s a prize fight. On the other side of the bracket is Eileen Gu, the superstar who seems to have a billboard on every corner in Shanghai. Their rivalry is the fuel of this Olympics. Gu has the amplitude; Gremaud has the technical wizardry.
When Mathilde drops in today, watch her landings. Most skiers absorb the impact with a grimace. Gremaud lands "bolts" (that’s ski slang for perfectly flat skis, no wobble). It’s silent. It’s eerie. It’s beautiful.
Does she defend the Gold? Maybe. Does she care? Probably less than you think. She’s already rewritten the code of the sport. Everything else is just a bonus lap.
