Olympic Games have ‘surpassed my dreams’ says golden Oldham

The wait was worth it for Megan Oldham.

A storm caused the women’s ski big air competition to start over an hour later than expected 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,” explained 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 last competitor in each of Monday’s runs after being the top finisher in the qualification round. She finished Saturday’s qualifiers with a score of 171.75 and was the only skier to post a run that reached the 90s.

The patience paid off for Oldham. The 24-year-old had a big first run and carried that momentum throughout, winning gold to become Canada’s first ever medallist in women’s big air.

While Monday’s wait for the big air competition was over an hour delay for Oldham, really, it’s been a four-year wait. At Beijing 2022, the Parry Sound, Ont. native finished fourth in big air, missing the podium by 5.5 points. That fourth-place finish helped drive her to gold at Milano Cortina, she said.

“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 final, starting with a backwards entry for a switch double cork 1260 with safety grab, scoring a strong 91.75. On her second run, she pulled off a double cork 1260 with mute grab for a score of 89.00, putting her in top spot with a total score of 180.75.

READ: Megan Oldham wins gold in women’s ski big air

In big air, only the best two of three runs are used to create the final score. This put the pressure on other skiers to try and catch Oldham in the third run. China’s Eileen Gu came the closest to catching the Canadian, putting down a third run of 89.00 to finish with a total of 179.00 to take the silver medal.

Great Britain’s Kirsty Muir had the final chance to knock Oldham off the top of the podium, going second-to-last. Muir couldn’t land her final jump, placing her fourth overall and giving Canada its second gold medal of these Games. Flora Tabanelli of Italy took bronze.

With a stacked field, Oldham knew that this was not going to be an easy competition.

“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 also captured bronze in the women’s slopestyle. While no doubt pleased with that performance, Oldham admitted that a “pretty heavy” crash in the event made preparing for the big air a challenge.

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 began skiing when she was five-years-old but got into freestyle a bit later than most who do the sport competitively, starting at age 14. The late start hasn’t had a negative impact on Oldham though, who has been standout on the FIS World Championship and Winter X Games circuits for several years now.

At Worlds, Oldham’s best big air finish was a bronze in 2023. Now she can add a gold medal from the sport’s biggest stage to that collection.

“This has been an Olympics that has totally surpassed my dreams,” said 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 one of two Canadians taking part in the big air competition. Naomi Urness, taking part in her first Olympic Games, finished sixth with a total score of 168.75.