Olympic Games have ‘surpassed my goals’ says golden Oldham

Darren Calabrese/COC

The wait was price it for Megan Oldham.

A storm brought on the ladies’s ski large air competitors to begin over an hour later than anticipated at Livigno Snow Park on Monday at Milano Cortina 2026.

“I mean this weather, we didn’t expect it to come in as hard as it did, so having that break was a little difficult to just try to stay mentally locked in and focus on my tricks and visualize them,” defined Oldham. “But honestly, it didn’t hold any of us back from showing our best skiing today, which is awesome.”

The wait was even longer for Oldham, who was the final competitor in every of Monday’s runs after being the highest finisher within the qualification spherical. She completed Saturday’s qualifiers with a rating of 171.75 and was the one skier to submit a run that reached the 90s.

The persistence paid off for Oldham. The 24-year-old had a giant first run and carried that momentum all through, profitable gold to turn into Canada’s first ever medallist in ladies’s large air.

While Monday’s look ahead to the large air competitors was over an hour delay for Oldham, actually, it’s been a four-year wait. At Beijing 2022, the Parry Sound, Ont. native completed fourth in large air, lacking the rostrum by 5.5 factors. That fourth-place end helped drive her to gold at Milano Cortina, she stated.

“Coming off Beijing, I think that was a bit of a heartbreak for me, and I knew I was up there with the top girls, but being just off (the podium) was really hard too. So coming into these Games, I was really hungry to change that.”

Oldham reached the 90s on her first run of the ultimate, beginning with a backwards entry for a change double cork 1260 with security seize, scoring a powerful 91.75. On her second run, she pulled off a double cork 1260 with mute seize for a rating of 89.00, placing her in high spot with a complete rating of 180.75.

READ: Megan Oldham wins gold in ladies’s ski large air

In large air, solely the very best two of three runs are used to create the ultimate rating. This put the strain on different skiers to try to catch Oldham within the third run. China’s Eileen Gu got here the closest to catching the Canadian, placing down a 3rd run of 89.00 to complete with a complete of 179.00 to take the silver medal.

Great Britain’s Kirsty Muir had the ultimate probability to knock Oldham off the highest of the rostrum, going second-to-last. Muir couldn’t land her last soar, inserting her fourth total and giving Canada its second gold medal of those Games. Flora Tabanelli of Italy took bronze.

With a stacked subject, Oldham knew that this was not going to be a straightforward competitors.

“Honestly, slips, or freestyle skiing in general, it’s hard to know what anyone’s going to do. I was focused on doing my tricks, but I knew that any one of these girls out there could win. So it was just really about landing my best tricks to put myself into the mix.”

This is the second medal of Milano Cortina 2026 for Oldham who additionally captured bronze within the ladies’s slopestyle. While little doubt happy with that efficiency, Oldham admitted {that a} “pretty heavy” crash within the occasion made getting ready for the large air a problem.

READ: Megan Oldham captures ski slopestyle bronze at Milano Cortina 2026

“I knew that I’d be determined no matter what to get out there, but honestly, the first couple of days of training on the big air, I was in a lot of pain. I got a hematoma on my quad, so it’s been pretty seized up, but I was going to do everything to be out here and showcase my skiing.”

Oldham started snowboarding when she was five-years-old however bought into freestyle a bit later than most who do the game competitively, beginning at age 14. The late begin hasn’t had a damaging affect on Oldham although, who has been standout on the FIS World Championship and Winter X Games circuits for a number of years now.

At Worlds, Oldham’s finest large air end was a bronze in 2023. Now she will be able to add a gold medal from the game’s largest stage to that assortment.

“This has been an Olympics that has totally surpassed my dreams,” stated Oldham. “I wanted to come home with one medal and to come home with gold is something I never thought was possible, so I’m so proud of myself.”

Oldham was considered one of two Canadians participating within the large air competitors. Naomi Urness, participating in her first Olympic Games, completed sixth with a complete rating of 168.75.