Oldham Dethrones Gu in Dramatic Big Air Final as Italy Makes Freestyle History

In a competition delayed by swirling snow and featuring some of the most spectacular aerial acrobatics ever witnessed at the Winter Olympics, Canada's Megan Oldham claimed women's freeski big air gold at Milano Cortina 2026 with a winning total of 180.75, holding off Eileen Gu of China and Italy's Flora Tabanelli.

The victory marks a changing of the guard in women's big air, with Oldham edging defending Olympic champion Gu by just 1.75 points in a final that saw four athletes score 90 points or higher on their opening runs.

The final was delayed by 75 minutes due to bad weather, building tension before the skiers launched themselves off the massive ramp under lights and falling snow. Oldham performed a switch double cork 1260 with safety grab on her first run, earning 91.75 points that put her into second place. Her second run featured a double cork 1260 with mute grab that scored 89.00 points, giving her a combined total of 180.75 and pushing her into the lead.

For the 24-year-old from Parry Sound, Ontario, the gold represents double redemption. She had already won slopestyle bronze earlier at these Games, but in Beijing 2022, Oldham narrowly missed the podium in both slopestyle and big air. This is Canada's first Olympic medal in ski big air, which was only added to the Olympic program four years ago at Beijing 2022.

"It feels incredible. I'm still trying to process it all. It's been such a dream of mine. I'm so proud of myself for being able to come out here and land the tricks that I wanted tonight and to show my best skiing and just make Canada proud." said Oldham

Megan started skiing at the age of five. Her family would take Megan and her siblings out west nearly every year. She always loved the mountains and having two overly rambunctious brothers really forced her into the wild side of skiing. They were always convincing Megan to follow them through the trees, hit little side bumps, and ski backwards. Although Megan always loved ski trips with her family, she never really got into the sport until she was 15.

As a child, Megan was very focused on gymnastics and figure skating. She loved the adrenaline of flipping and spinning so when her brother finally convinced her to give freestyle skiing a shot, she instantly fell in love with it. Megan stopped gymnastics and skating the following year and started skiing with a local team that winter.

Having a gymnastics background really helped Megan progress quickly. She learned a handful of new tricks during the first season and grew a deeper love for the sport. Fast forward a few years, Megan made the Canadian team and won the Crystal globe during her first season on the World Cup circuit.

Gu, the global superstar and luxury brand ambassador competing for China, could not replicate her Beijing triumph. For Slopestyle bronze medalist Oldham and Slopestyle silver medalist Gu, they claimed their second medal at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Despite the silver, Gu has now tied moguls skier Mikael Kingsbury of Canada for the most Olympic Freestyle Skiing medals, with both having two golds and three silvers The 22-year-old still has one more chance for gold in the halfpipe, where she is the defending champion.

But the night's most emotional story belonged to Italy's Flora Tabanelli. The 18-year-old won bronze in her Olympic debut, securing Italy's first-ever Olympic medal in freestyle skiing. Tabanelli delivered a left double 1440 for 90.00 points in her first run then sealed the historic medal with a spectacular final jump that scored 94.25 points, the highest single score of the entire final.

The achievement is all the more remarkable considering Tabanelli's journey. She suffered a knee ligament injury just months ago and this marked her first competition of the season. "It feels like a miracle," Tabanelli said. "Three months ago, after the injury, I thought I wouldn't make it here"

There was a double blow for the Swiss team on Monday as Anouk Andraska and Mathilde Gremaud were forced to withdraw from the final with a wrist and hip injury respectively. Both crashed during training. Beijing 2022 Big Air bronze medalist Gremaud qualified third after taking Slopestyle gold on 9 February.

As the snow continued to fall on the Livigno Snow Park and the home crowd erupted in celebration, three athletes stood atop the podium representing three distinct storylines: Canada's patient ascent to the top, China's continued excellence despite falling short of gold, and Italy's breakthrough into freestyle skiing's Olympic elite.