Cooper Woods has won an astonishing moguls gold medal for Australia, narrowly pipping the field in the men’s super final to finish in a dead heat with a Canadian legend of the sport but claiming the glory with a slightly better score.

Woods entered the super final on top of the standings, having delivered a statement run in the first race one of the finals, which earned a score of 83.60.

Skiing lastr in the eight-man super final, the 25-year-old stared down two huge scores posted by the athletes who were sitting in the gold and silver medal position when he started his run, then doubled down on his earlier performance, scoring 83.71 – the same score delivered by Canada’s king of mogul skiing, Mikael Kingsbury – the gold medallist at Pyeongchang 2018, to go with silver medals at Sochi 2014 and Beijing 2022.

Woods trumped Kingsbury due to a higher turn score (48.4), with Kingsbury (47.7) relegated to the silver medal by that tiebreaker scoring method.

“I am Cooper Woods and I’m an Olympic champion. C’mon,” he yelled, speaking to Nine in ecstatic celebrations after the medal ceremony.

Australia’s Cooper Woods with his gold medal. PA Images via Getty Images

It was shortly after he said those words that it appeared to truly sink in for Woods.

“I have no words,” he continued.

“The highs, the lows, the injuries and the setbacks, all that sacrifice has been for this little thing.”

On Thursday alone, Woods went from 15th in the first run of qualifiers to the second highest qualifying score as he blitzed the course to secure his spot in the final.

He then put down a statement run to top the field in the first final, to ensure he would ski last in the super final. He soaked up the pressure of the moment and nailed the most important run of his career to win gold as friends and family celebrated raucously in the spectator area at the bottom of the course.

Woods revealed afterwards how disappointed he had been with the first day of competition and how he had turned things around so quickly.

“After qualification one I had a pretty deep meeting with my sports psychologist and I just felt pretty lost as an athlete. I felt like I skied my heart out in that first qualifier and we actually talked about, ‘oh, what happens if we turn it around in a couple of days?’,” he told Nine.

“It’s just been crazy what has actually happened in the last couple of days.”

Woods’ veteran teammate Matt Graham had pointed out after the super final that the ski gods had worked in Woods’ favour, with the sun poking out from the clouds on what was an otherwise difficult day from a visibility point-of-view.

Woods acknowledged that he got the rub of the green.

“There was a little bit of sunshine that came through [for the final run] so I’ve gotta thank someone higher above me that did that for me,” Woods said.

“But I’ve gotta take credit out to our team, our team is sensational. All our teammates, we all look out for one another and we spend so much time on the road together, so to put the trust on them, this is much their gold as it is mine.”

Woods was over the moon to see his parents, Katrina and Matt, at the bottom of the slopes, sharing a warm embrace with the pair after he received his gold medal.

He told Nine it was the first time they had been able to watch him ski.

“We cannot believe it,” Matt told Nine after the race.

Katrina added: “It is so incredible. It has been a lifelong dream since he was a little boy.”

With a “big night” of celebrations ahead, Graham declared Woods’ display was “a win for Australia”.

Matt Graham picks Cooper Woods up at the bottom of the slope after he won gold. Getty

“He deserves this. He’s worked so hard,” Graham told Nine.

“The whole team has worked hard. It’s a win for Cooper and for the team. It’s a win for Australia.”

Woods becomes the seventh Winter Olympic Games gold medallist in Australia’s history, joining Steven Bradbury, Alisa Camplin, Dale Begg-Smith, Torah Bright, Lydia Lassila and Jakara Anthony.

He is also the third Aussie to win moguls gold – an extraordinary feat considering the size of the nation and the relative lack of snow in the sunburnt country.

“I am only really starting to find all that out now,” he said. “Like I said, it hasn’t really sunk in and the significance.

“I am probably going to go home and just sit there for a solid hour by myself and just figure out what’s going on, so it’s lovely to join some pretty awesome people at the same time.”

Pyeongchang silver medallist Graham “was cooking” down the slopes, in the words of moguls legend Britt Cox, but his score of 80.88 in the super final was not enough to land him on the podium.

The four-time Olympian recorded a fifth-place finish in the event, and fellow Australian Jackson Harvey finished eighth. To have three Australians in the eight-man super final was in itself a big achievement.

Coming in behind Woods and Kingsbury on the standings was Ikuma Horishima of Japan, who claimed the bronze medal with a score of 83.44.

Source: https://www.nine.com.au/sport/olympics/milano-cortina-2026-mens-moguls-cooper-woods-gold-medal-matt-graham-jackson-harvey-results-video-20260212-p5o1xu.html