Canada’s Megan Oldham wins slopestyle bronze at Milano Cortina 2026

Canada added a key podium moment at Milano Cortina 2026 on Monday, February 9, when freeski star Megan Oldham fought through a heavy crash and still delivered a medal-winning final run in women’s slopestyle. The bronze in Livigno came in a high-difficulty final that was decided by fractions, and it immediately strengthened Canada’s early-Games momentum in freestyle skiing.

Oldham, 24, has been one of Canada’s most consistent big-air and slopestyle threats for years. This time, she turned a shaky middle run into an Olympic medal — the kind of result that can steady a team’s outlook heading into the rest of the freestyle program.

Megan Oldham’s comeback run

Oldham’s final was defined by resilience. After going down hard on her second run, she returned for her third attempt and put down the score Canada needed for the podium. In the mixed-zone aftermath, she acknowledged discomfort in her quad and back but indicated it was manageable.

The performance matters beyond the medal color. Slopestyle judging rewards amplitude and technical progression, but it also punishes hesitation. Oldham’s ability to reset mentally after a crash — and still commit to a high-scoring line — was the difference between leaving empty-handed and adding Canada’s first freestyle-skiing medal of these Games.

How the women’s slopestyle was decided

The top of the field was razor tight. Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud defended her Olympic title, while China’s Eileen Gu took silver after losing a chance to improve on her final run. Oldham’s bronze came with a strong first-run base and a clutch third-run response that held off a late charge from a close fourth-place finisher.

A defining feature of this final was progression: Gremaud landed an unusually technical “butter” entry into a double-cork rotation that pushed the scoring ceiling upward. The ripple effect forced everyone below her to prioritize difficulty and execution simultaneously — a risk-reward equation that made Oldham’s crash-and-return story even more meaningful.

Canada’s freestyle outlook in Milano Cortina

Oldham’s result slots neatly into Canada’s broader medal strategy: freestyle events offer multiple chances in a short window, and early success can compound quickly. With big air and other freestyle disciplines still to come, a podium finish also helps in the less-visible parts of the competition — confidence in training sessions, team rhythm, and decision-making about how aggressively to chase difficulty.

For Canada, the bigger takeaway is that the pipeline is delivering medals under pressure. Oldham’s Olympic bronze converts years of international success into the currency that matters most at the Games, and it signals Canada’s women are positioned to contend again when the big air medals are awarded.

Key scores from the final

What’s next for Oldham and Team Canada

The immediate question is health and recovery. Even if she feels “fine after a few days,” slopestyle crashes can leave lingering tightness that affects speed, pop, and landing stability. The next indicator will be whether Oldham is able to train at full intensity heading into big air, where single-jump execution and confidence on takeoff are everything.

From a competition standpoint, the women’s freestyle field has already shown that the winning margin can be under half a point. That puts a premium on clean landings and consistency — and it makes Canada’s coaching choices (how much to push difficulty versus protecting execution) especially consequential. If Oldham can arrive at big air healthy enough to attack, Canada has a realistic path to another podium in the same freestyle corridor that produced Monday’s bronze.

Sources consulted: Reuters, The Associated Press, Canadian Olympic Committee (Team Canada), Sportsnet