Author: rb809rb

The Seattle Seahawks’ resounding 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX was spearheaded by their defense. Mike Macdonald was brought in because of his defensive expertise, and he had the Patriots on the ropes pretty much all 60 minutes at Levi’s Stadium.

The one who was dominated most? It might have been Josh McDaniels.

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The Patriots’ offensive coordinator had few answers as the Seahawks held quarterback and MVP runner-up Drake Maye to the sixth-worst EPA per dropback in a Super Bowl since 2000. New England’s offense as a whole struggled on late downs especially, with a 33% success rate for the game per RBSDM.com, and the Seahawks recorded six sacks and three turnovers, including an interception returned for a touchdown. The game plan and personnel formations overall felt pretty vanilla, as noted by Yahoo Sports contributor Dan Pizzuta.

Yahoo Sports’ Charles McDonald heard the hype all Super Week for McDaniels, who was named Assistant Coach of the Year at Thursday’s NFL Honors. It’s a regular season award, and nobody’s taking it away from him, but McDonald pulled no punches in noting the stark mismatch on the Football 301 Super Bowl live reaction show.

“I would say Mike Macdonald’s probably coached two of the top three defenses this decade of football,” McDonald said, also referring to the 2023 Baltimore Ravens. “And we’re talking about Josh McDaniels?”

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McDaniels entered Super Bowl LX with a chance to cement a unique legacy with a fourth ring as a coordinator, which would tie for the most of all time. He didn’t get it, but he still has six as an assistant coach overall with Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots’ dynasty from 2001-2019.

Part of the reason McDaniels’ legacy is unique, though, is because for as good as he’s been as an assistant, he’s also been fired twice after bad head coaching spells with the Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders.

“One of these guys is actually getting his team prepared, ready to play,” McDonald said. “And the other guy is coasting on having an elite quarterback, again. Because when he’s been away from his elite quarterback, what does it look like? … And this is the same offense he was running with the Vegas Raiders. So why is this good now? Explain it to me. No one can do it, and that’s why he got his ass beat today.”

Still, McDonald said the Super Bowl doesn’t change how he feels about Maye or the Patriots’ bright future, given they’ve picked in the top five the past two drafts and got to the Super Bowl early in their overall build.

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[More on the Patriots: New England team feed]

Football 301 co-hosts Nate Tice and Matt Harmon agreed that the Patriots’ game plan was suspect, and that Mike Vrabel didn’t do his best coaching job either overall.

“Felt like the whole offense played tight, and McDaniels is part of it,” Tice said. “I thought it was a very traditional, static call sheet. First down runs. Unsuccessful first down pass? Here comes a second down run. … [The Seahawks] were just teeing off on it.”

Now, Tice said New England’s next step includes an injection of talent on offense.

“They need about five guys to make it better,” Tice said. “It’s a hard offense because you need guys winning. You need [Rob Gronkowskis]. You need [Julian Edelmans]. You need guys with some juice to win some 1-on-1s.”

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That could help McDaniels evolve as a play-caller as well. He already has a big leg up at quarterback in Maye, who’s only in his second season.

“What does [McDaniels] do? What does he do to help people? What does he do to help his quarterback?” McDonald said. “He did nothing today, or the past three games, or the 17 games before that. It’s just iso ball.

“But I’m watching Drake Maye hit incredible passes all season long. There’s a game against the Cardinals burned in my brain where he throws a bender in the middle of the field vs. Tampa 2 and throws it in between four defenders, and it’s dead on. And I’m hearing about Josh McDaniels. Like, what is happening to my society? Can we watch the games please?”

The Boston Red Sox are pivoting after losing third baseman Alex Bregman to the Chicago Cubs in free agency. Perhaps in response to that move, the team made a trade for Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Caleb Durbin on Monday, the team announced.

Durbin, 25, slashed .256/.334/.387 as a rookie. Durbin, who was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 14th round of the 2021 MLB Draft, is known as a scrappy, undersized player who is capable of strong defense at third base. This marks the third time in his career that he has been traded.

While he hit well in the minors, Durbin’s upside with the bat is a bit of a question after a middling rookie season. His slash line wasn’t overly impressive, though it was 5% better than league-average. He managed that despite one of the worst average exit velocities in the game and a low barrel rate. Both figures cast doubt on Durbin’s ability to be a meaningful producer at the plate moving forward.

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But Durbin is the type of player who has overcome those shortcomings in the past. Even last year, he showed an ability to optimize his approach at the plate, making sure he was pulling his fly balls, a good way for a player of his size to maximize his power output. That approach came through in the second half, which saw Durbin club seven home runs in 234 plate appearances. However, that came with a big reduction in his on-base percentage, so Durbin will need to find a way to reconcile that.

In addition to Durbin, the Red Sox received Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler and a competitive-balance round B pick, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.

Monasterio, 28, hit .270/.319/.437 in limited time with the Brewers last season. He saw time at every position on the infield and played two innings in left field. Seigler, a 26-year-old third baseman, hit just under .200 in 73 plate appearances in the majors last year.

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[Get more Red Sox news: Boston team feed]

In exchange for Durbin, the Red Sox are parting ways with a key piece in the Rafael Devers trade. Left-handed pitcher Kyle Harrison is the main player heading to the Brewers in the deal.

Harrison, 24, didn’t see much time in the majors following that trade last summer. After making eight appearances with the San Francisco Giants in the first half, he was sent to the minors after being acquiring in the Devers deal. He made three major-league appearances with the Red Sox in the regular season, putting up a 3.00 ERA over 12 innings.

Prior to the 2024 MLB season, Harrison ranked within the top half on most top-100 prospect lists, topping out as No. 23 on MLB.com’s list heading into that season. Since then, the lefty hasn’t quite lived up to those expectations. The Brewers have a knack for getting the most out of young pitchers, however, so this could be a great landing spot for Harrison.

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The Brewers also received 27-year-old pitcher Shane Drohan and 28-year-old infielder David Hamilton in the deal. Hamilton is known more for his defensive ability and has hit just .222 since 2023. Drohan saw his strikeout rate soar in the minors last season, but he was old for Triple-A and never got a chance in the majors with the Red Sox.

[Get more Brewers news: Milwaukee team feed]

With this move, two of the key pieces acquired by the Red Sox in the Devers deal are no longer with the franchise. In addition to shipping out Harrison, the Red Sox traded pitcher Jordan Hicks on Feb. 1. Hicks struggled mightily in limited work with the Red Sox following the Devers trade, posting an 8.20 ERA over 18 2/3 innings. The Red Sox were disappointed enough with that performance that they agreed to trade Hicks to the Chicago White Sox.

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Both the Brewers and Red Sox are expected to contend in 2026 after making the playoffs last season. At the same time, both teams still have a few glaring roster deficiencies. The Red Sox might have plugged one of those with Durbin, while the Brewers are engaging in a bit of a roster revamp after trading ace Freddy Peralta earlier in the offseason.

In Milwaukee, this trade presents more questions than answers, but the team has a strong track record of getting the most out of its young, unproven players. Harrison could be the next Brewers pitcher to take that leap, and the team has a handful of impressive infield prospects who could replace Durbin’s production before long.

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As for Durbin, if the Red Sox can further optimize his approach at the plate, there’s potential for him to develop into an extremely useful, well-rounded contributor in all facets of the game.

Seattle Seahawks running back and Super Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker III had a breakout season in 2025 and saved his best performance for last, which happened to be his dad’s first NFL game. Walker set the tone on offense for Seattle’s Super Bowl victory over New England on Sunday, but said it took some convincing to get his father inside Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

After splitting carries all season, Walker became the workhorse in the Seahawks backfield when Zach Charbonnet suffered a torn ACL in their divisional round win over the San Francisco 49ers. That injury immediately made Walker the primary back for the two biggest games of Seattle’s season.

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[Get more Seahawks news: Seattle team feed]

Walker came up big in the Seahawks’ three playoff games. In the game where Charbonnet went down with the knee injury, he rushed for 116 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-6 blowout over the Niners. Against the Rams in the NFC championship game, Walker rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown while also adding four catches for 49 yards.

Kenneth Walker II did not attend either of those games due to not being a fan of crowds. Walker’s agent must be a great negotiator because they were able to get pops in the building, and the fourth-year running back had his biggest performance of the entire season in Super Bowl LX. Walker ended the game with 135 rushing yards and added four receptions for 26 yards, leading to Super Bowl MVP honors.

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In 2025, Walker became the Seahawks’ full-time starting running back and played in all 17 games for the first time in his career. He rushed for 1,027 yards and five touchdowns, along with 31 receptions for 282 yards. In three postseason games, Walker rushed for 313 yards, with a 4.8-yard average per carry and four touchdowns.

Justin Boone is a two-time winner of the FantasyPros Most Accurate Expert Award (2019, 2025) and has nine top-10 finishes in the competition. 

Below you can see a very early look at his fantasy rankings for the 2026 season. More expanded rankings, including PPR scoring and rookies, will be available in future updates.

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2026 Fantasy Rankings

Takeaways from the early QB rankings 

• The arrival of offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel should give Justin Herbert a significant boost, in addition to the Chargers getting their star linemen back healthy and perhaps even adding some reinforcements up front. It’s not like we haven’t seen high-end production from Herbert before. Even this past season, he had the fourth-most fantasy points among quarterbacks over the first nine weeks (21.8 fppg) before injuries to himself and his offensive line took their toll. That led to him being the QB20 over the final eight weeks, averaging just 14.8 fppg. However, with McDaniel calling plays and some better injury luck, Herbert will have a chance to push for top-five fantasy numbers moving forward.

• It’s been a tumultuous start to the offseason for Josh Allen with Sean McDermott being replaced by Joe Brady, but the former MVP remains the unquestioned No. 1 fantasy quarterback heading into next season. Allen finished as the highest scoring fantasy QB in four of the last six campaigns and never fell below third at the position during that span. Keeping Brady ensures continuity for the offense, but let’s hope the Bills make an effort to add some playmakers to the receiving corps this offseason.

• Patrick Mahomes was averaging the second-most fantasy points per game among quarterbacks through 15 weeks before suffering a torn ACL that could put his Week 1 availability in jeopardy for next season. Even if he suits up in September, that could lead to a dramatic decline in rushing production, which was a big reason for his bounce-back in 2025. After finishing as the QB12 and QB13 the past two years, Mahomes found himself back among the elite producers at the position, thanks to career-highs in rushing yards (422) and rushing touchdowns (five) in just 14 games. However, most passers coming off serious knee injuries aren’t as aggressive running the ball the following season. I’m projecting Mahomes outside of the top 12 until we get a clearer timeline for his recovery. Regardless, you should be lowering your expectations for him in 2026.

Quarterbacks 

2026 Fantasy Rankings

Justin Boone is a two-time winner of the FantasyPros Most Accurate Expert Award (2019, 2025) and has nine top-10 finishes in the competition. 

Below you can see a very early look at his fantasy rankings for the 2026 season. More expanded rankings, including PPR scoring and rookies, will be available in future updates.

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2026 Fantasy Rankings

Takeaways from the early running back rankings 

• Be prepared for last year’s rookie class to wreak havoc on the fantasy landscape in 2026. Ashton Jeanty finished with 1,321 scrimmage yards and 10 total touchdowns in his first season, despite dealing with a weak supporting cast, an injured Brock Bowers and a coordinator change midseason. If Jeanty was the RB17 in fppg in that environment, I can’t wait to see what he’ll do when his situation improves — and that’s already in the works, with Klint Kubiak verbally confirming he was taking the Raiders’ head-coaching job. Omarion Hampton should also have a much better scenario next year, with Mike McDaniel taking over playcalling duties for the Chargers. McDaniel, who’s a disciple of the Shanahan system, has always produced strong rushing attacks. As long as the Chargers can avoid another injury apocalypse on their offensive line, Hampton will have a chance to push for RB1 fantasy numbers after averaging RB16 results as a rookie.

• Bijan Robinson is holding down the top spot in my running back rankings, but Jahmyr Gibbs isn’t far behind. Both players are young, supremely talented and excellent pass-catchers, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that they are the only ball carriers to finish as top-four fantasy RBs in each of the past two seasons. We also might be on the verge of their biggest campaigns yet in 2026, with Robinson possibly taking on even more work if Tyler Allgeier leaves in free agency and Gibbs continuing to be featured in Detroit as David Montgomery gets older.

• Christian McCaffrey outperformed all expectations in 2025 by staying healthy and finishing as the highest-scoring fantasy back with 2,126 scrimmage yards and 17 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Derrick Henry continued to defy the age curve by racking up 1,745 yards and 16 scores en route to being the RB7 in fantasy points per game. However, projecting their fantasy value moving forward gets a little tricky. Henry just turned 32 years old at the beginning of January and McCaffrey will be 30 before next season kicks off. Though Henry remained productive, his limited role in the passing game means any decline in his rushing stats will have a major impact on his fantasy outlook. The risk of a dropoff is high and moves him into the fantasy RB2 range. For CMC, his 413 touches are a lot for any back, but especially one at his advanced age. It will be nearly impossible for him to match this year’s production and with a potential decline looming, McCaffrey will be an extremely dangerous first-round pick that I’ll be avoiding.

Running Backs 

Early 2026 Fantasy Rankings

The New England Patriots had massive expectations when they selected offensive lineman Will Campbell with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Campbell was supposed to serve as Drake Maye’s blindside protector, keeping the future of the franchise safe from opposing pass rushers.

While Campbell did a decent job of that during the regular season, things completely fell apart against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 60. Campbell allowed an astounding 14 quarterback pressures during the contest, per Next Gen Stats. That was the most allowed by any player in a single game the entire 2025 season, including the playoffs.

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After that performance in a 29-13 loss, the 22-year-old Campbell declined to speak to the media, per the Boston Globe.

Campbell was reportedly asked to speak multiple times, but declined before leaving the locker room.

It’s not the best look for the rookie, who had an especially tough time throughout the playoffs. During the postseason, Campbell ranked 29th out of 30 tackles in pass block win rate, per Ed Werder. Campbell definitely played a role in Maye getting sacked 21 times during the team’s four postseason games.

But to put all the blame on Campbell would be foolish. The rookie didn’t play well, but he was far from the only member of the Patriots’ offensive line who faltered down the stretch. Guard Jared Wilson also rated out poorly over the four postseason games, per Werder.

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[Get more Patriots news: New England team feed]

While Campbell’s performance stood out Sunday, he wasn’t the sole reason the Patriots gave up six sacks and two interceptions. Seattle’s defense was ferocious, getting pressure against essentially every member of the Patriots’ line the entire evening. All of that combined to speed up Maye and make him uncomfortable, leading to some missed passes and costly errors.

Campbell’s struggles also may have been overstated depending on which advanced metric proprietor you trust. Pro Football Focus’ metrics list Campbell with three pressures allowed in Super Bowl 60. He still struggled, but maybe not as much as Next Gen Stats initially suggested.

Figuring out exactly what went wrong for Campbell should be a major focus for the Patriots over the offseason. Campbell wasn’t miserable in the regular season, ranking as the 32nd left tackle in the NFL according to PFF’s metrics. It was a promising enough performance that fans could envision a future where Campbell improved in his second season and ranked within the top half of the league at his position.

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But after his immense struggles in the playoffs, the Patriots may need to re-evaluate Campbell’s future. When Campbell was coming out of the draft, some questioned whether he would hold up as a tackle in the NFL due to his short wingspan. Is a position change a reality following Campbell’s poor postseason, or will the Patriots continue to show faith in him as a tackle?

The development puts an even bigger damper on the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss. The entire team got exposed in Super Bowl 60, but no player found themselves under the microscope more than Campbell, the team’s first-round pick.

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Campbell, of course, is exceptionally young and shouldn’t be written off after a poor stretch against some of the best pass rushers in the NFL. If anything, his struggles are a reminder that the Patriots were never supposed to be this good so quickly, and that the team still has work to do to solidify itself as a Super Bowl contender next season.

Justin Boone is a two-time winner of the FantasyPros Most Accurate Expert Award (2019, 2025) and has nine top-10 finishes in the competition. 

Below you can see a very early look at his fantasy rankings for the 2026 season. More expanded rankings, including PPR scoring and rookies, will be available in future updates.

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Early 2026 Fantasy Rankings

Takeaways from the early WR rankings 

• Puka Nacua is comfortably the top receiver in my rankings after leading all wideouts in fantasy scoring this year with 19.3 points per game in half-PPR, which was over a full point more than Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who was in second. Now that we know the reigning 38-year-old MVP Matthew Stafford will be back next season, Nacua is set for another dominant effort. His 2025 campaign is even more impressive when you remember his teammate, Davante Adams, posted 14 touchdowns playing alongside him. There are no bad picks among the top three receivers, but Nacua has the early edge for 2026 drafts.

• Malik Nabers continues to fall down my 2026 rankings after suffering a torn ACL and meniscus in late September. A full meniscus repair extends Nabers’ recovery timeline. Even though the target is for him to be back before training camp, we know players and teams can be overly optimistic about when injured stars will return to the field. When healthy, Nabers has top-five upside at his position, but he’ll need to be monitored all offseason to see if he can get back to WR1 form for Week 1.

• Jalen Coker saved his best for last this season, putting up nine catches, 134 yards and a touchdown on 12 targets in the Panthers’ wild-card-round loss. The performance came after he took on a bigger role in the offense down the stretch and was the WR29 in fppg over the final six weeks of the regular season (if we include Week 18). Coker was a top-24 WR in three of his five contests during that span and will hopefully carry that momentum over to 2026 as the Panthers’ No. 2 option in the passing game.

Wide Receivers

Early 2026 Fantasy Rankings

Justin Boone is a two-time winner of the FantasyPros Most Accurate Expert Award (2019, 2025) and has nine top-10 finishes in the competition. 

Below you can see a very early look at his fantasy rankings for the 2026 season. More expanded rankings, including PPR scoring and rookies, will be available in future updates.

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Early 2026 Fantasy Rankings

Takeaways from the early TE rankings 

• Colston Loveland has moved into the TE3 spot overall after finishing the season as hot as any player at his position. The rookie was the TE18 in fppg on the year, but over the final nine weeks of the fantasy season, he emerged as the fifth-highest scoring tight end during that span. At just 21 years old, Loveland posted stat lines of 6-94-1, 10-91-1, 8-137-0 and 4-56-0 over his last month, including the playoffs, with at least 10 targets in each of those outings. It’s clear Ben Johnson plans to make Loveland a focal point of the passing attack and fantasy managers should be excited about that.

• George Kittle suffered a torn Achilles in the playoffs, which is especially concerning for a player who will turn 33 years old in October. However, Kittle spoke about the nature of his specific Achilles injury, which was a clear tear that occurred higher up, so they didn’t have to drill into his heel. That will allow more blood flow and a faster recovery. While a normal Achilles tear would keep a player out until November, the general belief is that Kittle has a shot to return sooner than that. I’d still be cautious about drafting Kittle for 2026, but he is back in my rankings now — even though we might not be starting him in Week 1.

• Trey McBride stands alone at the top of the tight end rankings and for good reason. The 26-year-old reached a new level of production this season, averaging over 15 fantasy points per game in half PPR and over 18 fppg in PPR. He finished the year more than 80 points ahead of the next closest fantasy TE in half PPR and more than 100 points above second place in PPR. His 242.9 fantasy points would have made him the WR5, RB9 or QB13 in total scoring on the year. We need to see who the Cardinals’ starting quarterback will be in 2026, but McBride is the unquestioned No. 1 option at the position.

Tight Ends

Early 2026 Fantasy Rankings

There are three different freestyle snowboarding disciplines at the Winter Olympics this year: half-pipe, slopestyle, and big air, and on Monday, you can tune in to the first women’s medal event, the big air final, live. The top 12 riders from the qualifying round have advanced to the women’s big air snowboarding final airing Monday at 1:30 p.m. ET, with all the action airing live on Peacock and NBC.

Read on for a complete schedule of every Team USA Snowboarding event at this year’s games, a rundown of who’s competing, and how to watch all the action. And if you want to learn even more about every event at this year’s Winter Games, here’s a guide to everything you need to know about the Milano Cortina Games.

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How to watch the women’s snowboarding big air Finals:

Date: Monday, Feb. 9

Time: 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT

Location: Livigno Snow Park

TV channel: NBC

Streaming: Peacock, DirecTV, and more

Where can I stream snowboarding at the 2026 Winter Olympics?

The women’s big air snowboarding final will stream live at 1:30 p.m. ET on Peacock this Monday, Feb. 9.

Where to watch the big air final on TV:

Women’s snowboarding coverage on Monday will be broadcast on NBC, which you can stream on DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV and more.

LIVIGNO, Italy — Eileen Gu’s mantra for the Milan Cortina Games is “Nothing to Prove.”

Still just 22 years old, you could argue Gu already has it all: International fame, model looks, a Stanford education, endorsements that make her one of the highest-paid female athletes in the world and two gold medals she won under immense pressure four years ago in Beijing after choosing to compete under the Chinese flag.

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She’s already banked a lifetime of accomplishment before most of her peers have gotten a full-time job.

“I have no real expectations,” she said. “I’m here because I want to be.”

On one hand, when you look at Gu’s image in totality, the one that has landed her on billboards and magazine covers and Olympic podiums, it seems like insincere claptrap. Ambition has defined everything about her young life, from her 1580 SAT score to walking runways at international fashion events. She really took time off from Stanford to train for the Olympics without any expectation of a medal haul like the one she took home from Beijing?

But at the same time, Gu’s legacy in the sport of freestyle skiing is already secure. Everything now is a bonus.

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And Monday, the lack of expectation she put on herself may have helped put a new entry on the career résumé that will shine as brightly as the silver medal she won in slopestyle. In a sport that is always progressing, always breaking new ground, always pushing athletes to their physical and mental limits, Gu and Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud put on a head-to-head show that might go down as the best women’s freeski competition of all time.

“That’s hands down the best slopestyle run I’ve ever done,” Gu said.

It just happened to be not quite as good as what Gremaud put up.

“The level was crazy today,” Gremaud said. “Definitely the craziest competition we had so far in women’s skiing.”

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Four years ago in this event, Gu and Gremaud were separated by a third of a point, with the Swiss skier coming out on top. This time, the tricks were bigger and the obstacles more demanding — and both managed to post scores even better than they did in Beijing.

For somebody you’d think wants to win everything, this was the day a silver medal never felt more golden.

“I was cheering for her because I knew the implications this contest has on women skiing,” Gu said. “We are literally watching women’s skiing evolve in real time. How special and wonderful is that? Did I want to land a second and third run? Yes. Did I have plans to do bigger and better [tricks]? Yes. But can I be at all disappointed or feel any kind of way except immensely proud? No, because the first run I landed was the run I came here to do.”

And what a monster run it was, putting down one clean trick after another before finishing with a 1080- and 1260-degree double corks, which are off-axis flips while rotating through the air. Gu said she had never done those consecutively in competition. The judges awarded her 86.58 points — more than what she would have needed to win gold four years ago.

It was an opening salvo that, against any other opponent, may well have clinched a gold medal right then and there.

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Suddenly, the stakes were raised.

“I definitely felt like if Eileen did it, I can also do it and I’ll try to do it better,” Gremaud said.

On her second try, she did, finishing with a pair of 1260 double corks to take the lead at 86.96.

It was all coming down to the third run. Gu had big plans — starting with a trick, ironically, called “disaster.” But a slight miscalculation in the speed and angle of approach to the first rail ended her run right away as her skis clipped the rail and she fell into the snow. Gu described her discomfort with that particular rail — she also tangled with it once in qualifying — as “writing with your left hand if you’re right-handed.”

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At that point, it was over. Gremaud skied casually down the mountain with a Swiss flag on her back before celebrating with the team, feeling like history had been made — and not just because she is now a repeat gold medalist.

“The girls pushed me,” she said. “I was hoping I [didn’t] have to go for a third run because I didn’t know if I had it in me. It was really intense that second run. I wasn’t happy for [Gu], but I was happy for myself that I didn’t have to send it again on the third run. That was a huge relief.”

Now, the focus shifts to see whether Gu can repeat what she did in Beijing, winning gold in big air and the halfpipe.

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Back then, Gu felt besieged not just by the pressure of performing in China but by the vitriol that accompanied her decision to compete for her mother’s home country and not the U.S. where she was born and raised.

Even as a highly intelligent 18-year-old, it wasn’t easy to be caught between the political cross-currents of two global powers. It is why, in fact, American freeskier Hunter Hess reached out to Gu this week when his comments about the complexity of representing America on the world stage at this moment became outrage fodder in conservative social media circles.

“He was saying, ‘I think you are the one person who would understand what it feels like to be just trying to ski and have the entire world coming at you,’” Gu said. “I have so much sympathy and empathy for him. I feel sad that he’s in this situation, and it seems like an unwinnable press war for him right now.”

Gu glided through those storms and has come out on the other side feeling free here at these Olympics. She insists there’s no pressure to collect more medals, but if what she showed Monday is any indication, a slopestyle silver isn’t the only hardware she’s going to add to the collection.

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“I’ve gone through things at 22 I don’t think any person should ever have to deal with be it from threats, vitriol, online hate, you name it, physical attacks, the list goes on,” she said. “But I get stronger, and that’s what’s so wonderful about being young. You adapt and learn and get better and better.

“There was a period of time I thought I’d never be better than how I was at 18 so overcoming that and showcasing my best skiing when it counted at the Olympics is such a special experience. If I can inspire one young girl to start skiing after seeing the level today, that’s my gold medal.”