Moguls master Woods snatches gold medal for Australia

Melissa Woods |

Australia’s Cooper Woods has won Olympic gold in the men’s moguls at Livigno.
Australia’s Cooper Woods has won Olympic gold in the men’s moguls at Livigno.

Cooper Woods has won Australia’s first medal of the Winter Olympics, clinching gold in the men’s moguls.

Canadian great Mikayla Kingsbury won silver with Japan’s Akuma Hiroshima taking bronze.

Australia had three men advance to the top eight medal round – Woods, Matt Graham and debutant Jackson Harvey.

Graham placed fifth and Harvey eighth.

Finishing sixth in Beijing, Woods has had a lean World Cup season and has only been on the podium once in his career back in 2024.

But the 25-year-old rose to the occasion in stunning fashion.

He topped the first qualification round in Thursday morning and then shocked the field to also gain the No.1 ranking for the final, meaning he came out of the gates last.

Matt Graham
Matt Graham, who won men’s moguls silver in 2018, finished just outside the medals this time. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)

In a tense finish he beat Kingsbury on tie-break. Both scored 83.71 but Woods had the higher turns score.

Woods’ triumph is Australia’s third gold medal in the moguls after successes by Dale Begg-Smith the last time the Games were in Italy, Turin 2006, and Jakara Anthony in Beijing four years ago.

It is Australia’s seventh Winter Olympic gold overall.

AAP