The Japan Times - Canada's Oldham beats defending champion Gu to freeski big air gold

Oldham scored 180.75 at Livigno Snow Park to finish narrowly ahead of China's Gu (179.00), with Italian teenager Flora Tabanelli taking bronze.

Oldham, 24, was in a strong position after posting 91.75 on her opening run, backing it up with 89.00 with her second effort to put the pressure on the rest of the field.

Gu, who had a poor second run and risked finishing off the podium, showed nerves of steel in her final effort, scoring 89.00 to catapult herself into the silver medal position.

There were still a number of skiers to go but Gu clung onto second spot, leaving Oldham, the last to go, with the luxury of a victory lap.

The Canadian, who won slopestyle bronze earlier in the Games, fell but it did matter and she held out her arms in celebration.

"It feels incredible," said Oldham. "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."

- Blizzard -

Oldham said the 75-minute delay to the start of the final due to a blizzard in Livigno added to the pressure.

"It's hard to keep in the right mindset, but I just tried to tell myself that we're still doing it and stay in that game headspace," she said.

"I was just trying to stay warm, keep my body moving and visualising my tricks so I was ready to go once we were back out there."

Tabanelli thrilled the home crowd with a 94.25 on run three -— the highest single-run score of the final -— to clinch bronze with a combined 178.25 from her best two runs.

It was a remarkable result for the 18-year-old Italian, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee three months ago.

The field of 12 competitors was reduced to 10 before the start when Swiss pair Mathilde Gremaud and Anouk Andraska pulled out due to injury.

Gremaud, who won big air bronze at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games and pipped Gu to gold in slopestyle in Italy, was expected to be one of the medal contenders.

Gu, who has not competed in big air since winning gold in the event in Beijing, now has two silver medals at the Milan-Cortina Games, with one discipline, the halfpipe, to come.

She is now the most decorated female Olympic freeski athlete with five medals in total but her defeat means China has still not won a gold in Italy.

US-born Gu, who switched allegiance to China in 2019, was one of the faces of the Beijing Games, where she became the first athlete to secure three freestyle skiing medals at a single Winter Olympics.

In big air, athletes take off from a massive ramp and perform aerial tricks.

K.Tanaka--JT