Canada slopestyle/big air coach J.F. Cusson says Megan Oldham’s looks deceive. “You look at her, and she’s all tiny and cute and smiling. But I call her the Mighty Meg,” he said with a smile. “She’s something.” The 24-year-old freestyle skier from Parry Sound, Ont., lived up to that billing Monday, surviving a 75-minute weather delay to win gold in women’s big air in dominant fashion at Livigno Snow Park. Oldham had already earned a bronze in slopestyle, recovering from a “pretty heavy” crash on her second run to make the podium on Feb. 9. Oldham led the big air competition after the first two runs — competitors had three with the best two counting — and was assured of the gold by the time it came to her third run as the final skier. Her combined score of 180.75 included a first-run effort of 91.75, the best of the night. Chinese star Eileen Gu, who was runner-up in slopestyle, scored 179.00 to take silver ahead of Italy’s Flora Tabanelli at 178.25. Britain’s Kirsty Muir was fourth at 174.75, just missing out on the podium as she had in slopestyle. Naomi Urness of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was sixth at 168.75. Oldham now has two of Canada’s 11 medals at the games, including one of its two golds. “Honestly, this has been an Olympics that has totally surpassed my dreams,” she said. “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 experienced some dark times getting here, sidelined by a concussion suffered during training in November. To this day, she doesn’t remember anything from that day, including time in the hospital for a CT scan. She spent the next four weeks at home “just doing nothing, trying to recoup.” “I definitely felt a lot of pressure with the games coming close,” she said. She got back on her skis after a month and a half, but said the mental battle continued. These games have also been about redemption for Oldham. Four years ago in Beijing, she just missed out on the big air podium, finishing fourth, and was one place away from making the slopestyle final. “Coming off Beijing, that was a bit of a heartbreak for me,” she said. “I knew I was up there with the top girls, but being just off was really hard to process. Coming into this Games, I was really hungry to change that.” A sudden snowstorm delayed the start of Monday’s final, prompting workers to use shovels and portable snowblowers to remove excess snow from the course. Conditions cleared, but it began snowing again as competition resumed. As the top qualifier, Oldham was the last of the 10 skiers to go in the first round. She nailed her opening switch double 1260, then executed a double cork 1260. Rather than deliver a modified victory lap on her final run, she attempted — and fell on — her biggest trick, a switch double 1440 mute grab. Cusson says Oldham was slated to open the competition with her big trick, but the decision was made to change the order and go with a safer run because of the variable conditions. So Oldham won gold, with something in her back pocket. “She was saving the big tricks for the end,” said Cusson. A former gymnast and figure skater, Oldham got into freestyle skiing through her two brothers. “My brother and I climbed up on the roof of our garage, and we’d ski off the roof onto the ground,” she recalled. “I remember my dad came home and he was absolutely livid because he thought we were going to ruin the roof.” The big air competition is one for daredevils — with a high pain threshold. Athletes build up speed when they leave the top of the 55-metre jump, accelerating down a 40-degree incline to the five-metre-high kicker or jump, from which they launch their trick. The competitors exceed speeds of 50 km/h as they approach the jump. Judges score on difficulty, execution, amplitude and the landing. The structure, which spans 170 metres, has taken a toll on athletes. Two-time slopestyle champion Mathilde Gremaud was taken off the course on a stretcher after injuring her hip crashing in training before the final on Monday. The Swiss star, who won big air bronze in Beijing and slopestyle silver in 2018 in Pyeongchang, had qualified third. Switzerland’s Anouk Andraska (wrist) also pulled out of the final after a training crash. Gu, born in San Francisco, to an American father and Chinese mother, now has five Olympic medals, with her two silvers here. And she can add to her total in the freeski halfpipe Then 18, she made history in Beijing, becoming the first freestyle skier to win three medals at a single games — gold in big air and halfpipe, silver in slopestyle. Tabanelli, the defending FIS world champion and Crystal Globe holder, made the podium with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. She opted for rehab rather than surgery after the injury, sustained in November, so she could compete at these games. But the knee forced her to pull out of the slopestyle competition. It was Italy’s first Olympic freestyle skiing medal. Oldham admitted she, too, was hurting after the slopestyle crash. “Honestly, the first couple of days of training on the big air, I was in a lot of pain,” she admitted. “I’ve 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.” --- This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2026. Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press With files from The Associated Press.
