Mathilde Gremaud has come a long way in just a few years. After filming a documentary and taking time away from skiing, Gremaud returned to the slopes this year with a quiet strength — locking up the gold medal at the X Games before winning Olympic Gold at the 2026 Winter Games. We sat down with Mathilde before she left for Italy to learn more about her journey back to competition.

TOGETHXR: Congratulations on your documentary, She Who Flies. Why was it important to you to tell your story this way? What was it like to have some of your most vulnerable moments be put out in front of the world?

MG: I've never been a person that has big dreams — as a kid doing sport, I was not like, “Oh, my dream is to go to the Olympics." I did track and field when I was younger, before I shifted to skiing. This was never like a big dream of mine. One dream that I had as a kid, though, was to make a movie. Since the beginning of my career, I've been inspired by a lot of other athletes, how they share their story, and I got inspired by little bits of everyone. That's why I wanted to tell my story the way we did. As long as I was comfortable, I wanted to give as much insight as possible into my very vulnerable moments and show a bit of my personality, but also, try to be as broad as possible — to have something for everyone. 

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TOGETHXR: The documentary really shows you experiencing professional highs, while your personal life and struggles were at a little bit of a low. What was it like to know you were reaching your goals and having, from the outside perspective, success… But on the inside, you were struggling. What was that contrast like for you? 

MG: The most contrast I've had was that ‘23-‘24 season, where I was performing well, but I was grieving pretty intensely. That affected me so much as an athlete, because of the pressure and I felt like my confidence was getting destroyed. Skiing was really my freedom. It felt so great and after the competition, maybe it would last for a little while… Then when I was home, it was really crazy. It was the complete opposite. It was very separate, which was good for my skiing, but at the same time, I didn't take care of the private matters — which made it even worse afterwards. 

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TOGETHXR: You took a break from competing earlier this year and you’ve come back and are doing better. What are some strategies that you use now to help with the mental side of being an elite athlete?

MG: I have a psychologist now, since April ‘24. That was something that I never felt like was needed for me, but then obviously when everything happened, I decided I really needed someone. It was maybe a little too late. I should have been ready for that, and I wasn't. I was a little stubborn the previous years because I could have always used one, but I never really felt like I needed it. That's a really great privilege to be able to do that. I also just realized through everything that you can do as much as you want, but you will still need a certain amount of time to heal and feel better about everything. I've always gone to the gym because if I was not feeling good mentally, I really wanted to be feeling good in my body, at least physically. So I definitely never skipped that, even when I wasn’t really motivated. Also, I read some books about personal growth, and I found some comforting things in them. I don't feel like I did a lot of just one thing, I did a lot of different things and tried to try to get back the interest of learning little things and enjoying new things. I was cooking a lot, too. The biggest thing was trying to do a little bit of everything and and when I felt some dark things come just talk about it. What is cool now is that with time, I feel like I've had a good healing process.

TOGETHXR: You've already been to the Olympics and medaled. If you could go back in time and talk to your Olympic debut self, what do you think she would say about where you're at now and all the things you've gone through? 

MG: I think she'd be stoked. Sometimes I lose it, but at least I always try to come back to the real reason why I'm doing it — I haven't lost that. I feel like sometimes it's hard to prioritize it because you have other problems and you can get caught up in the pressure of competing and everything. But I always managed to come back to doing this because I loved it when I was younger, and I still do, and that's what's more important to me. 

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TOGETHXR: Is there a non-ski athlete in the Winter Games, or another non-skiing sport, that you’re excited to watch? 

MG: I'm a big fan of sports, so I kind of love them all. If I had to say one I think I'd say Biathlon. It's such a crazy sport, and so demanding. All the sports are crazy, but that's the one I enjoy. 

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TOGETHXR: You mentioned that you love a lot of sports. You went to the Euro this summer and in your Instagram bio, it says even when you're not skiing, you love all sports. If you could switch sports and be a pro athlete in any other sport, which sport would you choose? 

MG: Oh, I would definitely be a soccer player. I would love that. 

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TOGETHXR: Snow athletes sometimes have a specific routine, like listening to music or superstitions before their runs. Do you have any superstitions or routines? 

MG: I just like to do a good warm up — and the warm up is not the same every time. It's just kind of like what feels good in the moment, what my body needs a bit more focus on. Really, my routine is really to just listen to my body and my mind. I used to ski with music all the time, but as of right now, I don't. I know that music is powerful, so in some moments it would help me, but right now, I just don't do it because it hurts my ears.

Favorite non-snow female athlete that is killing the game right now: My girlfriend [Vali Höll] is actually a downhill mountain biker. Four-time world champion in a row. I think it's really cool because I get more insights into what she does outside of training and competing. I would pick her.

Your biggest pet peeve: People chewing too loudly. I just can't stand it. 

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Favorite place to travel: I just went to China and it was like a really cool experience this time around, and the food was really great. So I have to pick China, for right now. 

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Favorite sports movie: Moneyball.

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Favorite musical artist of 2025: 070 Shake. 

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Best piece of advice for other young athletes: It's really important to not compare yourself to others. If you want to look at what others do, try to have a positive look when you watch. Try thinking about it like, “Oh, sick, they do that and they're great. So I'm gonna try, too.” Gain something from what they're doing, but don’t be putting yourself down when you watch your competitors. Try not to compare yourself, and that will help a lot.