{"id":1775812,"date":"2026-02-17T10:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T07:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1775812"},"modified":"2026-02-17T10:03:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T07:03:00","slug":"the-2026-olympic-womens-freeski-big-air-finals-was-an-instant-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1775812","title":{"rendered":"The 2026 Olympic Women\u2019s Freeski Big Air finals was an instant classic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A powerful storm hit Livigno last night, and I\u2019m not talking about the gale-force winds and pelting snow that raked through town. I\u2019m talking about the women\u2019s freeski Big Air final\u2014a showdown to remember, with all the elements of drama, glory and yes, heartbreak that you\u2019d expect to see in an Olympic final.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The evening began with an air of uncertainty: Would this contest even take place at all? As powerful winds raked across the Big Air jump, heartbreaking news came in from the Swiss team: Both of their finalists, Anouk Andraska and Mathilde Gremaud, were out after injuries in training.<\/p>\n

However, the storm apparently broke its back on the resolve of the women\u2019s finals field, because an hour later, the winds had calmed, and the contest was able to get underway under a light snowfall, lending the evening a truly wintersport feeling.<\/p>\n

Run 1: A spectacular start<\/h2>\n

Simply put, the first run of the finals made this contest an instant classic. Of the 10 competing finalists, eight of them posted scores in the 80s and above, with nearly everyone lacing their tricks perfectly. With nearly every competitor throwing double corks and spinning 1080 degrees or above, this was a level that women\u2019s freeski big air has never seen before.<\/p>\n

The first run\u2019s biggest surprise came from Lara Wolf of Austria, who unleashed her rarely seen but much hyped switch double misty 1260, stomping it effortlessly\u2014if just a tad short on the landing\u2014for a round-leading score of 93.50.<\/p>\n

She was trailed by top qualifier Megan Oldham, who bagged her switch left double cork 1260 safety for a solid 91.75, and a tie for third between the forward double cork 1440s of Eileen Gu and Flora Tabanelli.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a huge right dub 12 safety from Naomi Urness stomped halfway down the landing moved the Canadian rookie into fourth place, while Kateryna Kotsar and Kirsty Muir locked in dub 10 mutes\u2014Muir to her unnatural side\u2014and Anni Karava laced a beautiful switch cork 10 tail to fill out the pack of scores in the 80s.<\/p>\n

Home country hopeful Maria Gasslitter wasn\u2019t far behind with a score of 78 for a switch double 900 japan, while Chinese big air threat Liu Mengting was the only rider to have a significant mistake, managing to hang on to a heavy landing on a big dub 14.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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A post shared by Lara Wolf (@laraw0lf)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n

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Run 2: The punches keep coming<\/h2>\n

The level stayed high through the second run, although with a few more crashes as most riders looked to book a second trick. Kateryna Kotsar and Maria Gasslitter both succeeded, with a switch misty 9 and and dub 10 mute respectively, to post combined scores in the middle of the pack.<\/p>\n

Liu Mengting meanwhile got redemption on the dub 14 that she struggled with on run 1, lacing it perfectly for a ticket to the 90s club. Lara Wolf and Naomi Urness didn\u2019t have as much luck\u2014Wolf crashed on a dub 12 blunt attempt, losing her lead in the contest, and Urness went down on a switch dub 10 mute.<\/p>\n

Flora Tabanelli and Anni Karava followed with dub 10 mutes, one switch (Flora) and one forward (Anni). Anni\u2019s left dub 10 mute was particularly flawless, and was rewarded with probably the best score possible for that trick, a 83.75.<\/p>\n

Then it was time for the three top qualifiers to show their stuff. Kirsty Muir hammered out a left dub 16 safety\u2014the first time we\u2019ve seen that trick from her\u2014to launch into the lead. Eileen Gu missed the grab and landed rough on a dub 12 tail attempt, dropping back in the leaderboard. Dropping last, Megan Oldham landed bolts on a left dub 12 mute, scoring an 89 to take over a commanding lead going into the third and final jump.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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A post shared by Team GB (@teamgb)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n

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Run 3: Race for the podium<\/h2>\n

One attempt left, this one for all the marbles. With only one trick score logged\u2014but that one a solid 90\u2014Liu Mengting dropped first in the final round, and she came hard with a right dub 14 safety, mirroring her first trick. It was a powerful combo but the execution was lacking on the rightside trick, keeping her score at 76 and out of podium contention.<\/p>\n

Naomi Urness was able to stomp the switch right bio 1080 mute that she\u2019d crashed on in the second run, but, like Liu Mengting, scored outside of the podium. Same for Lara Wolf, who landed her dub 12 but whiffed the tail grab\u2014a big missed opportunity for the Austrian rider with one of day\u2019s single biggest trick scores.<\/p>\n

Sitting in tenth place, a highly unusual place for her to be, Eileen Gu needed something big to return to her normal haunts on the podium. She didn\u2019t disappoint, lacing the same dub 12 tail that Lara Wolf had just missed, to score a 89 and vault into second place.<\/p>\n

Kateryna Kotsar put down a switch dub 10 that we\u2019ve never seen from her before, but was squirrely on the landing and remained in tenth place. The Italian rookie Maria Gasslitter took the night\u2019s biggest crash on a switch dub attempt, losing control and taking the second flip squarely to her back. Thankfully, she stood up smiling.<\/p>\n

With two scores in the 80s, Anni Karava needed something big to improve her standing. She opted for a switch dub 12 mute\u2014yet another individual NBD in this contest\u2014but although she locked the grab, she couldn\u2019t hold it down on the landing.<\/p>\n

Flora Tabanelli followed with the biggest trick of the third round, a dub 16 safety that she stomped clean to take over third place, bumping Kirsty Muir off the podium. Kirsty dropped next and had her chance to answer, but crashed on what looked to be her own 16 attempt with a tail grab. Heartbreak hotel for the ambitious Scottish rider, who has to settle with fourth place in both slopestyle and big air.<\/p>\n

All that was left was a victory lap for Megan Oldham, which she eschewed in favor of a switch left dub 1440 mute attempt. Unfortunately, she crashed\u2014but still showed us that she\u2019s got a lot more in the gas tank\u2014including her forward triple, which didn\u2019t come into play tonight.<\/p>\n

A final for the books<\/h2>\n

All in all, it was a night for the books in Livigno, as the women\u2019s final went from being doubtful whether or not it would be held at all, to an absolute throwdown that saw multiple first-ever tricks from most of the field, exciting podium challenges, and no injuries. It was about as good of a final as you could wish to see, and it vaulted women\u2019s big air into a whole new era. The future looks good.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to the 2026 Milano-Cortina women\u2019s freeski Big Air medalists: Flora Tabanelli, Eileen Gu, and golden girl Megan Oldham.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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A post shared by FIS Park & Pipe World Cup (@fisparkandpipe)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n

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Sign up to our newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news, videos and happenings in freeskiing.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A powerful storm hit Livigno last night, and I\u2019m not talking about the gale-force winds and pelting snow that raked through town. I\u2019m talking about the women\u2019s freeski Big Air final\u2014a showdown to remember, with all the elements of drama, glory and yes, heartbreak that you\u2019d expect to see in an Olympic final. The evening […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,279],"class_list":["post-1775812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-downdays-eu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1775812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775812\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1775812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1775812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1775812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}