LIVIGNO, Italy — Defending Olympic champion Eileen Gu took silver in freeski big air at the Milan Cortina Games as Canada’s Megan Oldham won the gold medal on Monday night.
Oldham topped the 10-woman final with a combined score of 180.75 points from two jumps. Gu was next with 179.
Italy’s Flora Tabanelli took bronze while competing with an injured ACL.
This is the second medal for the 24-year-old Oldham at these Winter Games. She won bronze in slopestyle last week.
Gu also won silver in slopestyle and still has her best event, the halfpipe, in which she will try to defend her title on Saturday.
Oldham locked up gold with her first two jumps. She had an inconsequential fall on her third jump, the last of the final, which became a victory lap.
In 2022, Gu became the first freestyle skier to win three medals in a single Games after taking gold in big air and halfpipe and silver in slopestyle at age 18.
Gu was born in San Francisco but competes for China, her mother’s homeland. She hadn’t competed in a big air contest since triumphing at the Beijing Games, concentrating on her other events.
The initial final field of 12 was reduced by two after Mathilde Gremaud and Anouk Andraska, both of Switzerland, got hurt practicing jumps before the final. Gremaud, who defended her slopestyle gold last week, hurt her hip and needed to be stretchered off. Andraska hurt her wrist.
In big air, skiers get three jumps and must land two. Their scores include points for difficulty and execution.
Monday’s final was delayed by more than an hour an hour because of a snowstorm.
Winter Olympics: /hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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