Eileen Gu is officially the first No. 1 pick in X Games League winter history.
XC Golden State selected Gu with the first overall pick Wednesday night as X Games held its inaugural Winter League Draft in Los Angeles, filling four new teams with 40 of the world’s top skiers and snowboarders ahead of the league’s first winter season in 2027.
More than 180 athletes opted into the draft pool, meaning fewer than one in four earned a roster spot. Each of the four clubs selected 10 athletes, with every roster required to include five men, five women, and athletes from both skiing and snowboarding. X Games outlined the inaugural winter draft format earlier this summer.
Gu entered the night as the expected top selection, and XC Golden State general manager Jonny Moseley did not create any suspense once his club went on the clock.
The San Francisco-born freeskier, who represents China internationally, has three Olympic gold medals and three silvers, making her the most decorated freestyle skier in Olympic history. She also owns three X Games gold medals and one bronze.
After being selected, Gu said she was excited about what the new format could mean for freeskiing.
“I think this league is going to be so big for our industry, for our sport, and my dream of bringing freeskiing to more people will be realized one step at a time with you guys.”
Some of the Biggest Names in Skiing and Snowboarding Went Early
XC New York followed Gu by selecting Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris, the most decorated athlete in Winter X Games history.
McMorris now headlines a New York roster that also includes Olympic snowboard gold medalist Red Gerard, Mia Brookes, Kirsty Muir and Zoe Atkin.
XC Park City used its first selection on Chinese snowboarder Yiming Su. Park City ultimately assembled one of the most recognizable rosters in the league, adding freeskiers Alex Hall, Birk Ruud, Mathilde Gremaud and Kelly Sildaru, along with snowboarders Cocomo Murase and Yuto Totsuka.
Canadian freeskier Megan Oldham became XC Whistler‘s first selection. Whistler then added Mac Forehand, Valentino Guseli, Tess Coady, Gaon Choi and several other international ski and snowboard competitors.
The Four X Games Winter League Rosters
XC Golden State: Eileen Gu, Luca Harrington, Scotty James, Mari Fukada, Hiroto Ogiwara, Anni Karava, Henry Sildaru, Lainey Steen, Marcus Kleveland and Lily Dhawornvej.
XC New York: Mark McMorris, Mia Brookes, Kirsty Muir, Finley Melville-Ives, Taiga Hasegawa, Zoe Atkin, Red Gerard, Jessica Perlmutter, Matej Svancer and Patti Zhou.
XC Park City: Yiming Su, Cocomo Murase, Mathilde Gremaud, Birk Ruud, Indra Brown, Yuto Totsuka, Alex Hall, Sara Shimizu, Troy Podmilsak and Kelly Sildaru.
XC Whistler: Megan Oldham, Mac Forehand, Liam Brearley, Gaon Choi, Rocco Jamieson, Amy Fraser, Valentino Guseli, Tess Coady, Naomi Urness and Cam Spalding.
The draft used a snake format, with the selection order reversing as it progressed through five rounds. Each team made two picks per round, one man and one woman. Athletes who entered the draft but were not selected can still appear at Winter League events as free agents or injury replacements.
X Games Is Trying Something Completely Different With Winter Sports
The draft is part of a much larger change to how X Games presents competitive skiing and snowboarding.
Traditional X Games competitions have largely revolved around individual athletes competing for medals at standalone events. The X Games League adds city-based clubs, season-long standings and a championship race spanning multiple events.
Athletes drafted to clubs are expected to remain assigned to those teams for two or three years. Their competition results will generate points for their clubs throughout the season, creating team standings alongside the individual competition. X Games explains the new league structure here.
The winter format follows the first X Games League summer season, which debuted earlier this year with skateboard and BMX teams. XC New York won that championship by just 10 points over XC Tokyo after the title race came down to the final event in New Orleans.
Unofficial Networks previously covered the announcement of the four Winter League general managers, including Olympic moguls champion Moseley at Golden State, Dave Sypniewski at New York, Sharalee Hazen at Park City and longtime Canadian ski and snowboard media executive Ryan Stutt at Whistler.
The First Winter League Season Starts in Aspen
The newly drafted teams will not have to wait long into 2027 to find out how the experiment works on snow.
The inaugural Winter League season begins Jan. 29-31 at Buttermilk in Aspen, Colorado, the longtime home of Winter X Games.
Competition then moves to WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park in Calgary from Feb. 19-21 before the season concludes with the championship at Ruka, Finland, from April 9-11.
Unofficial Networks recently covered the three-stop Winter League schedule, which represents a major geographic expansion from the traditional Aspen-centered X Games winter format.
Exactly how fans respond to athletes competing for city-based teams remains to be seen.
But after Wednesday night’s draft, the concept is no longer theoretical. Forty of the biggest names in freeskiing and snowboarding now have teams, and Eileen Gu will enter the first X Games League winter season as its first overall draft pick.
