Freestyle skiing at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games had a little bit of everything: moguls chaos, aerials excellence, ski cross bump-and-grind, and a flurry-filled showcase of park and pipe progression.
Alex Ferreira finally got the gold that had eluded him for two Olympics. Meanwhile, Liz Lemley and Jaelin Kauf gave the U.S. its first-ever 1-2 finish in a women's freestyle event, and then both returned to the podium in dual moguls as they won a combined four medals between them.
Eileen Gu left Italy as the single most decorated freestyle skier, man or woman, in Olympic history, defending her halfpipe title and adding two silvers in slopestyle and big air to finish with six career medals.
Norway's Birk Ruud and Tormod Frostad went 1-2 with Americans Alex Hall and Mac Forehand in men's slopestyle and big air.
Jakara Anthony absorbed a brutal shock upset in moguls and came back to win the debut of Olympic dual moguls. And Cooper Woods, a virtual unknown with one World Cup podium to his name, needed a tiebreaker to dethrone Mikael Kingsbury — who responded by winning dual moguls gold.
Ferreira's gold in halfpipe gave Team USA its 10th of the Games overall, tying the national record set at Salt Lake City in 2002.
Medal table
| Country | Medals | Total |
|---|---|---|
| China | 🥇🥇🥇🥈🥈🥈🥉🥉🥉 | 9 |
| United States | 🥇🥇🥇🥈🥈🥈🥈🥉 | 8 |
| Canada | 🥇🥇🥈🥉🥉 | 5 |
| Switzerland | 🥇🥈🥈🥈🥉 | 5 |
| Australia | 🥇🥇🥈🥉 | 4 |
| Italy | 🥇🥈🥉 | 3 |
| Norway | 🥇🥇 | 2 |
| Japan | 🥈🥉 | 2 |
| Germany | 🥇 | 1 |
| Estonia | 🥈 | 1 |
| Austria | 🥉 | 1 |
| France | 🥉 | 1 |
| Great Britain | 🥉 | 1 |
| New Zealand | 🥉 | 1 |
| Sweden | 🥉 | 1 |
| Athlete | Medals | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Eileen Gu, CHN | 🥇 HP, 🥈 BA, 🥈 SS | 3 |
| Mikael Kingsbury, CAN | 🥇 DM, 🥈 MO | 2 |
| Megan Oldham, CAN | 🥇 BA, 🥉 SS | 2 |
| Liz Lemley, USA | 🥇 MO, 🥉 DM | 2 |
| Xu Mengtao, CHN | 🥇 AE, 🥉 AET | 2 |
| Wang Xindi, CHN | 🥇 AE, 🥉 AET | 2 |
| Jaelin Kauf, USA | 🥈 MO, 🥈 DM | 2 |
| Noe Roth, SUI | 🥈 AE, 🥈 AET | 2 |
| Ikuma Horishima, JPN | 🥈 DM, 🥉 MO | 2 |
| Li Tianma, CHN | 🥉 AE, 🥉 AET | 2 |
Men's Halfpipe: Ferreira's moment finally arrives
After Olympic silver in 2018 and bronze in 2022, Alex Ferreira of Aspen, Colorado, finally reached the top of the podium, throwing down double corks in all four directions — and punctuating his run with his signature pole swing — to score 93.75 on his third run and win gold.
He had been building toward this for years: a perfect 2023-24 season going seven-for-seven across X Games, Dew Tour and all five World Cups; back-to-back Crystal Globes; a stated certainty that the gold was coming.
"Best moment of my life. Easily. Blown out of the water, not even close," Ferreira said.
Estonia's Henry Sildaru, 19, the country's first male Olympic freestyle skier, stunned the field with a 93.00 for silver. Canadian Brendan Mackay, the top qualifier, went full send on the contest's final run to score a 91.00 and vault into bronze.
Ferreira's teammate Nick Goepper, a newcomer to halfpipe, finished 4th. Thirty-four-year-old Gus Kenworthy, who won a slopestyle silver medal for the U.S. in 2014 but now represents Great Britain, finished 6th in what could be his last Olympics.
Ferreira's gold was Team USA's 10th of the Games, tying the national record for most at a Winter Olympics set at Salt Lake City in 2002.
Men's Freeski Halfpipe Medalists
🥇 Alex Ferreira (USA)
🥈 Henry Sildaru (EST)
🥉 Brendan Mackay (CAN)
Women's Halfpipe: Eileen Gu saves her best for last
Eileen Gu saved her best for last, defending her Olympic halfpipe title in a final that ranked among the greatest displays the sport has ever seen.
After bailing on her first run and having a chat with her mom in the corral, Gu linked a 900 Buick, a 900 and 720 with tail grabs, and back-to-back alley-oop flat 540s to post a 94.00, then cleaned up the same line for 94.75 to win gold.
China's Li Fanghui took silver (93.00) and Great Britain's Zoe Atkin — like Gu, also raised in the U.S. and now at Stanford — earned bronze with a score of 92.50. PyeongChang 2018 gold medalist Cassie Sharpe of Canada did not compete in the final after a hard fall in qualifying.
After the final, Gu broke into tears at a press conference, revealing she had learned just after the contest's conclusion that her grandmother had died.
Gu left Italy with six career Olympic medals, the most of any freestyle skier in history.
Women's Freeski Halfpipe Medalists
🥇 Eileen Gu (CHN)
🥈 Li Fanghui (CHN)
🥉 Zoe Atkin (GBR)
Moguls
Women's Moguls: Lemley, Kauf make U.S. history
Moguls brought out all the upsets as Liz Lemley won her first career Olympic gold over current World Cup leader Jakara Anthony. Anthony, who dominated all the previous rounds, slipped in the midst of her final run and finished 8th.
Jaelin Kauf picked up silver after overcoming a stumble in the first round of qualification that forced her to take a second run. She is the first moguls skier to reach the podium after going through the second qualifying round. With Kauf's silver, this was the first U.S. 1-2 finish in a women's freestyle skiing event in Olympic history.
Perrine Laffont, the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic gold medalist, snagged the bronze.
Women's Moguls Medalists
🥇Liz Lemley (USA)
🥈Jaelin Kauf (USA)
🥉Perrine Laffont (FRA)
Men's Moguls: Woods dethrones 'The King'
In one of the wilder competitions in freestyle skiing, the men's moguls gold medal came down to a tiebreaker.
Cooper Woods, who only has one World Cup podium to his name, and Mikael Kingsbury, the greatest moguls skier of all time, tied at 83.71 points. It was Woods' turn component score — 0.7 points higher than Kingsbury's — that broke the tie. Woods won his first Olympic medal — a gold medal at that — while Kingsbury took home his third consecutive silver in moguls.
Ikuma Horishima, known for preforming some of the most difficult aerial tricks, landed an off-axis 1440 jump on his way to bronze.
Walter Wallberg, the 2022 Olympic gold medalist, placed 4th.
Men's Moguls Medalists
🥇Cooper Woods (AUS)
🥈Mikael Kingsbury (CAN)
🥉Ikuma Horishima (JPN)
Women's Dual Moguls: Anthony's redemption
After a shock upset in women's moguls that had her tumble into 8th, Jakara Anthony was on a mission to leave these Games with a medal in the Olympic debut of dual moguls. The Aussie outdueled a trio of Americans on her way to her second career Olympic gold.
Jaelin Kauf claimed silver, becoming the most decorated women's moguls skier in history.
Liz Lemley took bronze after recovering from a crash in her semifinal race against Anthony, while Perrine Laffont finished 4th.
Women's Moguls Medalists
🥇Jakara Anthony (AUS)
🥈Jaelin Kauf (USA)
🥉Liz Lemley (USA)
Men's Dual Moguls: 'The King' strikes back
Men's dual moguls brought a series of stumbles, crashes, and disqualifications as the men tumbled their way through the rounds.
Like Anthony, Mikael Kingsbury entered this event coming off a surprising defeat in moguls. 'The King' let the event roll off his back as he calmly made his way through the rounds to capture the gold, becoming the most decorated freestyle skier (at the time) in Olympic history with five Olympic medals.
Ikuma Horishima snagged silver, overcoming a wild quarterfinal race where he finished backwards, for his second medal of these Games.
Matt Graham rounded out the all-dad podium after besting Takuya Shimakawa in a tense small final race to earn his second Olympic medal.
In a sweet post-race moment, the three friends brought out their partners and children to share the podium.
Men's Moguls Medalists
🥇Mikael Kingsbury (CAN)
🥈Ikuma Horishima (JPN)
🥉Matt Graham (AUS)
Slopestyle
Women's Slopestyle: Gremaud holds off Gu again — by 0.38
Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland successfully defended her Olympic slopestyle title, edging out Eileen Gu by 0.38 points, an almost eerie echo of the 0.33 margin that separated them at the 2022 Beijing Games.
Gu led after the first run on a scintillating rail section, then fell twice on the same opening feature in her next two attempts. Gremaud, who had trailed by about three points after the first run, dialed up her jump line on the second — adding a full rotation to close with three double corks, a first for a woman in competition, per her coach — to sneak ahead of Gu.
Canada's Megan Oldham earned bronze despite a hard crash on her second run, returning Canada to the slopestyle podium for the first time since 2014. The margin there was nearly as tight: Oldham edged Great Britain's Kirsty Muir by 0.41.
It was the fourth Olympic medals for both Gremaud and Gu.
Women's Freeski Slopestyle Medalists
🥇 Mathilde Gremaud (SUI)
🥈 Eileen Gu (CHN)
🥉 Megan Oldham (CAN)
Men's Slopestyle: Ruud locks up gold on his first run
Norway's Birk Ruud, the two-time reigning world champion and defending big air gold medalist, locked in early with a statement first run — a switch right double cork 1800, switch left double 1620 and left nose-butter double 1620 — to score an 86.28. He never relinquished the lead.
Alex Hall came within a half-point on his second run (85.75) but couldn't improve on his final attempt and took silver.
New Zealand's Luca Harrington, the most recent X Games champion, threw down a clutch third run with a pull-back 1440 to 1260 on the final jump to vault into bronze, and was honored afterward with a haka from his teammates on the snow — including his own brother Ben.
About half of all runs in the field were abandoned after rail mishaps; Hall called the course the hardest he'd ever skied.
The 1-2 Norway-U.S. finish matched the result from 2018 with Oystein Braaten and Nick Goepper.
Men's Freeski Slopestyle Medalists
🥇 Birk Ruud (NOR)
🥈 Alex Hall (USA)
🥉 Luca Harrington (NZL)
Big Air
Women's Big Air: Oldham's victory, Tabanelli's miracle
Megan Oldham of Canada finally got the result that slipped away from her in Beijing, where a 4th-place finish left her five points off the podium.
On a wild, wind-and-snow-delayed night in Livigno, Italy, she opened with a switch left double cork 1260 safety — a trick only she and Mathilde Gremaud have ever landed — and backed it up with a classic left double cork 1260 mute to total 180.75 and hold off Eileen Gu for gold.
Gu, the defending champion, claimed her second silver of the Games and her fifth career Olympic medal.
Italy's Flora Tabanelli, 18, took bronze while competing on a torn right ACL she'd been rehabbing since November, opting against surgery to make it to these Games. She punctuated her night with a massive left double 1620 on her final run, giving Italy its first-ever Olympic freestyle skiing medal.
Gremaud, one of the favorites and the No. 3 qualifier, didn't compete after a hard crash in pre-competition training left her with hip and back injuries.
Women's Freeski Big Air Medalists
🥇 Megan Oldham (CAN)
🥈 Eileen Gu (CHN)
🥉 Flora Tabanelli (ITA)
Men's Big Air: Frostad's style edges Forehand's rotation
Norway's Tormod Frostad emerged from a Livigno snow globe with Olympic gold, throwing down a pair of double bio 1620s — one done switch with tail butter (97.00), one with nose butter (98.50) — to total 195.50 and edge American Mac Forehand, who briefly held the lead on a pair of triple cork 2160s before Frostad answered on the final run of the night. Austria's Matej Svancer took bronze.
Forehand had briefly jumped a point clear of Frostad with one athlete left, but Frostad retook the lead in the clutch. The difference came down to style: Frostad's technicality — nose-butter takeoffs, blind-landing rotations, difficult grabs — was simply what the judges preferred to reward.
Forehand's teammates Troy Podmilsak and Konnor Ralph finished 4th and 5th.
The 1-2 Norway-U.S. result matched what Birk Ruud and Alex Hall had done in slopestyle the week prior, completing a Norwegian sweep of men's park events.
Men's Freeski Big Air Medalists
🥇 Tormod Frostad (NOR)
🥈 Mac Forehand (USA)
🥉 Matej Svancer (AUT)
Aerials
Women's Aerials: Xu wins back-to-back gold
After a long snow delay postponed competition, Xu Mengtao won back-to-back Olympic gold in women's aerials, becoming the first skier in Olympic history to defend her gold in aerials. The 35-year-old successfully landed a back full-full-full, one of the few women in aerials performing the trick.
Danielle Scott nabbed silver after attempting a triple of her own while Shao Qi, the only woman who did not attempt a triple, snagged bronze. Scott prevented a Chinese sweep of the podium, coming in between the trio and just nudging Kong Fanyu off the podium.
Women's Aerials Medalists
🥇Xu Mengtao (CHN)
🥈Danielle Scott (AUS)
🥉Shao Qi (CHN)
Men's Aerials: Wang completes couple's gold
Wang Xindi, the husband of Xu Mengtao, won gold in the same discipline as his wife, making them one of the few married couples to win gold in the same Olympic Games. Xu could be seen in the crowd cheering on her husband.
Noe Roth, who became the first man to land the Hurricane at the Olympics since 2010, claimed silver a little over a point behind Wang. Roth is the second skier after Dmytro Kotovskyi to land the trick cleanly in competition so far. Kotovskyi also attempted the trick at these Games but did not land it.
Li Tianma secured bronze with a trick consisting of five twists.
Men's Aerials Medalists
🥇Wang Xindi (CHN)
🥈Noe Roth (SUI)
🥉Li Tianma (CHN)
Mixed Team Aerials: U.S. golden once more
Team USA clinched back-to-back Olympic gold in mixed team aerials after a dominating performance.
Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran and Chris Lillis each landed strong tricks for a combined total of 325.35 points, defeating Switzerland by more than 28 points. In a surprising twist of events, the Swiss team of Lina Kozomara, Pirmin Werner, and Noe Roth snagged silver.
China's Xu Mengtao, Wang Xindi, Li Tianma — all of whom won medals at these Games — overcame crashes by Wang and Li to take bronze.
Mixed Team Aerials Medalists
🥇Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran, and Chris Lillis (USA)
🥈Lina Kozomara, Pirmin Werner, and Noe Roth (SUI)
🥉Xu Mengtao, Wang Xindi, Li Tianma (CHN)
Ski Cross
Women's Ski Cross: Maier wins elusive gold
German Daniela Maier struck Olympic gold in women's ski cross after gliding across the finish line just 0.14 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Fanny Smith. Maier and Smith faced each other in the big final in a rematch from the 2022 Winter Olympics, where the two skiers were both awarded bronze medals after 10 months of arbitration.
Canadian two-time Olympic medalist Marielle Thompson was eliminated after an upset in the first quarterfinal heat. Teammates Hannah Schmidt and Brittany Phelan were also eliminated in the quarterfinals, marking the first time in Olympic history that Canada missed a women's ski cross podium.
Women's Ski Cross Medalists
🥇Daniela Maier (GER)
🥈Fanny Smith (SUI)
🥉Sandra Naeslund (SWE)
Men's Ski Cross: Host nation goes 1-2
In men's ski cross, the powdery snowfall led skiers to make frequent contact during tight passes. Multiple athletes either fell or were eliminated after being given yellow-card penalties. Italians Simone Deromedis and Federico Tomasoni had an edge on their home snow, streaking through the finish line to win Olympic gold and silver. They won Italy's first Olympic ski cross medals.
Men's Ski Cross Medalists
🥇Simone Deromedis (ITA)
🥈Federico Tomasoni (ITA)
🥉Alex Fiva (SUI)