LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Cooper Woods of Australia delivered a stunning breakthrough, edging moguls legend Mikael Kingsbury of Canada on a tiebreak to claim gold here on Thursday at Milan-Cortina 2026.
Woods, who had never reached the podium at an Olympics or world championships, matched Kingsbury with 83.71 points in the men's moguls medal round. The 25-year-old Australian secured the title on a turn score of 48.4, to Kingsbury's 47.7, leaving the Canadian with silver.
"It hasn't sunk in yet. I'm speechless - super emotional, very proud," said Woods, who had finished sixth at Beijing 2022. "I didn't have any expectations this morning. I just wanted to ski my runs and stay true to what I know I can do. It's not often you get one over Mikael."
Kingsbury, the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic champion and a two-time Olympic silver medalist, was competing at his fourth Games and had briefly moved into first place with a powerful run before Woods answered.
"I feel amazing. I'm very happy with my skiing," said the 33-year-old. "It was close - a tiebreak - and unfortunately, I'm not on the good side of it. But I've worked very hard for this medal. I'm getting older, and at one point it felt impossible to be back at this level."
Japan's Ikuma Horishima, the reigning world champion, took bronze with 83.44 points after landing a massive 1440 on his final jump.
"I'm still chasing Olympic gold, and it's a continuous and difficult journey," Horishima said. "I've tried three times and now a fourth. It's a long road."
Defending Olympic champion Walter Wallberg of Sweden finished fourth, missing out on a return to the podium. ■
