From the turquoise waters of a sleepy NSW beach town to the summit of his sport atop an alpine mountain in Italy, it has been by Cooper Woods’s own admission “an absolute journey”.
Australia celebrated its latest Olympic champion on Friday after the freestyle skier stunned the rest of the field in the final, including moguls greats Mikael Kingsbury and Ikuma Horishima, to become his country’s seventh Winter Olympics gold winner – and first medallist of these Milano Cortina games.
Few observers would have seen it coming. Woods has only reached the World Cup podium once – a silver medal at Waterville Valley in 2024 – since he joined the tour in 2017 and had endured a difficult 2025-26 season leading into the Games.
He arrived in northern Italy ranked 20th in the world and told reporters he “didn’t have any expectations”.
But the 25-year-old, who grew up in the surf at Pambula Beach on NSW’s south coast and honed his craft on the Perisher slopes, made light of his conservative ambitions by topping the second qualification round and gaining No 1 ranking for the final to ensure he came out of the gates last.
In the final, Woods laid down a run that matched Kingsbury’s score, but given the Australian’s higher turns score, he edged out the sport’s most accomplished and decorated athlete for gold at his second Olympics, having finished sixth on his Olympic debut at Beijing 2022.
“I just wanted to go out and ski my runs and stay true to what I know I can achieve,” Woods said. “To be at the top of the leaderboard after [the second final] … I am amazed that I got it done. It’s not often that you get one over Mikael, so I’ll take it when I can.
“I haven’t really processed it. I’ve struggled with a lot of self-belief. I’ve had such a good year of training but not competing, and what a time to get it dialled and sorted, when the pressure is at its max.
“There’s something [that happens] when there’s so much pressure where you can just let it all go and embrace it.
“Happened in Beijing, too … ‘I got nothing to lose – let’s have a go at it’.”
With former aerial skier Katrina Woods as a mother and longtime Perisher and national team coach Peter Topalovic as an uncle, snow is in Woods’ blood. Raised on the south coast of NSW, his family inspired him to take up mogul skiing at the age of 11 with Perisher Winter Sports Club.
“I’m very proud of the hard work and the sacrifice and the moments that I’ve shared with people around the world and more importantly, my family,” Woods said.
“I don’t spend a lot of time back home in Australia, we don’t have a lot of snow, so it’s everyone’s medal, not just mine.
“My family, teammates, friends, staff … To be skiing not just for myself, but for a lot of other people, brings a lot of pride.”
Four-time Olympian Matt Graham, who along with Jackson Harvey made it three Australians in the medal round, has skied with Woods since he was 15.
The Pyeongchang silver medallist was the first to celebrate with his training partner.
“To be up there, the last man standing, I just told him at the top that this is a privilege, make the most of it, turn by turn and just stay in the moment,” Graham said.
“He did that to the best of his ability and he’s standing up there alongside two of the greatest mogul skiers of all time, and he’s on the top step. I’m stoked for him – it’s a win for our team, a win for the Australian Olympic Team, and a win for Australia.”
Australia’s chef de mission Alisa Camplin said the day in Livigno had been “magic”.
“It was just so special to watch,” she said. “Cooper did three perfect runs – the judges were all about perfection and he was flawless in all three runs. I can’t tell you how hard it is to be that consistent.
“Cooper’s always been a man that rises to the occasion. We saw him do that in Beijing 2022 … and then he did it again. There wasn’t another man in the field that was flawless. Some people had a couple of harder jumps, but nobody else was flawless. Hats off to Cooper Woods.”
Woods said that as a child he had often dreamed of winning a gold medal, but now he has one in his possession, he had an unlikely use for it.
“I’m probably going to have a few beers,” he said, before looking at his medal and joking: “I might get in trouble for this, but it is a pretty nice-looking beer coaster.”
