Eileen Gu is out of this weekend’s X Games after a “heavy crash” in training left her with a “bad” knee injury. The 19-year-old American-born freestyle skier was set to return to the global spotlight this weekend in Aspen, Colorado, where was favoured to win gold in all three of her events. China’s double Olympic champion Gu said she was “so lucky” to avoid a much worse injury following a spill on the slopes at Buttermilk Ski Resort. “Had a heavy crash today in training and was told by doctors that they were worried about my ACL,” she wrote in a post to her 1.6 million followers on Instagram on Friday night in the US. “Had the most agonising couple hours waiting to get an MRI until I finally got my results back. Turns out my knee is intact! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eileen 🖤🌈🧊🐲 (@eileen_gu_) “So, so lucky to be walking away with a bad MCL sprain, ACL strain, and bone bruise. The bad news is I won’t be competing at the X Games this weekend. Gu added in her Instagram story she “cried in the MRI machine for 30 minutes” and said it “felt like I won the X Games” after getting her result. “The last few hours really put everything in perspective and made me realise how important it is to keep my body healthy. I’ll be back soon,” she said. Gu wishes fans happy Lunar New Year after two World Cup golds At the age of 18 Gu became the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing after winning gold in the big air and half-pipe, and a silver in medal in slopestyle, at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics last February. Having started her first year of studying at prestigious California university Stanford in October, she had only just returned to competitive action last week. The part-time model showed no signs of rust as she won two more gold medals at the Freestyle Skiing World Cup leg in Calgary, putting herself in pole position to top more podiums in Aspen. “Coming into my first contest last week after 11 and a half months off the circuit, it’s been so much fun going back and remembering all I love about the sport. I think I love skiing more now than ever,” she had said this week in an interview promoting luxury Swiss watch brand IWC Schauffhausen. “My time away has just reminded me of all the goals I have in the upcoming season, including trying to learn as many new tricks as possible, enjoying the process, and hopefully inspiring some people to do it with me.” “The X Games is super important to me – it gives me an opportunity to showcase my skiing to the world,” she added. “It’s sometimes difficult for everybody to be able to see all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes and in training. But being able to have a platform like the X Games – where people can watch and see all that hard work culminate – is really meaningful. “It s a great opportunity for people to see the sport, get in touch with it, and hopefully try it themselves.”