Australia’s Cooper Woods won the men’s moguls gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Woods and Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury tied with a score of 83.71, but Woods won on a tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker was decided by the ‘turn score,’ where Woods narrowly bested Kingsbury.
Kingsbury, who took home the silver, announced these would be his final Olympic Games.
LIVIGNO, Italy — The score flashed on the screen, 83.71, the same exact one that had been posted for the previous competitor, as both Australia’s Cooper Woods and Mikael Kingsbury of Canada tied atop the leaderboard at the conclusion of men’s moguls finals at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
Only one – Woods – left the Games with a gold medal.
Woods finished first because he won the first tiebreaker, which is determined by the judge’s ‘turn score.’ Three separate scores are combined for the skier’s final total – turns, aerials and time.
Woods bested Kingsbury by .70 – 48.4 to 47.7 – in turn score, leaving Kingsbury with a third Olympic silver medal (he also won gold in Pyeonchang, South Korea in 2018) in the event.
Five judges score turns during moguls events, with the lowest and highest scores dropped – a customary practice in Olympic events that are judged.
Kingsbury, who overcame a left groin injury he suffered in September prior to the season, said another silver medal – and the way in which he ended up with it – was ‘a little bit bittersweet.’
‘It was very close,’ Kingsbury said. ‘You can’t get any closer than that. I’m very happy for Cooper. He’s a great guy, comes from a great family.’
Kingsbury threw down his skis once he realized he finished as the Olympic runner-up again. It was a genuine reaction in the heat of the moment, he said.
‘I think everyone in my position knows my feeling,’ said Kingsbury, the most decorated athlete in Freestyle World Championships history, with 15 medals in 16 events. ‘You can’t be any closer. (It’s) not frustration, and it’s not disappointment, it’s just in the moment, you want to release a little bit (of emotion).
‘You can’t be any closer to that to win a gold medal.’
But after five minutes, as usual, Kingsbury said, he realized the weight of his longevity and accomplishment.
Woods called him a ‘wonderful man’ and had only been his normal, respectful self – the two are friends, Woods said – in the aftermath of defeat.
‘He’s had silver three times … he’s a top guy in the sport, so it’s got to be frustrating for him,’ Woods said.
Ikuma Horishima of Japan won the bronze. His 1440 on the second jump wowed Kingsbury and Woods, both of whom were watching from the top of the hill and the last two to drop in.
For the first time, he listened to the scores and watched runs from the top, something that’s typically ‘too much’ for him.
‘Life’s just gone pretty fast at the moment,’ he said.
Seeing his 83 in the qualifying heat earlier Thursday took him by surprise, Woods said, and he didn’t know that it was the top mark in the second qualification until his coach told him as he strapped back in to head up for the first round of finals.
Woods said it hasn’t sunk in yet but in the moments between media appearances he’s felt the emotions a tad, he said as his voice cracked about the prospect of seeing his family.
Kingsbury acknowledged that these are his final Olympics. He’ll be 37 in four years, which is ‘pretty old for a mogul skier.’
One of the questions the racers answered was about the apparent brutalizing force the sport must be on their knees. It’s actually worse for the back, Kingsbury said.
‘Not so bad,’ he said, ‘when you do it properly.’