Big Air, Women

Eileen Gu was the defending gold medalist but had not contested Big Air since the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. She was expected to be challenged by Swisswoman Mathilde Gremaud, bronze medalist in 2022; Canadian Megan Oldham, who had led the qualifying round in 2022; and Britain’s Kirsty Muir.

All four of the favorites made it through the qualifying round, which was led by Oldham again, with Gu second, and Gremaud third, but Gremaud withdrew from the final with an injury. The final was delayed for an hour because of a snowstorm and was contested through ongoing snow. With Gremaud’s teammate, Anouk Andraska, also withdrawing, the final had only 10 starters.

Austrian Lara Wolf led the first run of the final with 93.50 with four skiers over 90 points, including Oldham (91.75), Gu (90.00), and surprising Italian Flora Tabanelli (90.00).

In the second run Oldham scored 89.00 on her B run to move into the lead, as Gu had a poor B run, and was off the podium at that point. She would come back in run three, scoring 89.00 to move into second place, but Oldham could not be matched and won the gold medal. Tabanelli chose an A run in round three and posted the highest mark of the entire final with 94.25 to improve to the bronze medal position.

This was Gu’s second silver medal of MiCo26 but she would add a gold in halfpipe on the final day of the 2026 Winter Olympics, giving her six Olympic freestyle medals and three gold medals, the most by any freestyle skier, man or woman.