Olympics
Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud successfully defended her Olympic women’s ski slopestyle title on Monday, February 9, claiming gold in a dramatic final that once again came down to tenths of a point against China’s Eileen Gu.
- Related: Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud Claims Slopestyle Win at Stubai, Austria, as Eileen Gu Struggles
Going into todays competition, everyone knew it was going to be a show-down between the Swiss and the American-Chinese skier. The two have been neck to neck for years, not least of all since the 2022 Olympics, where Gremaud beat Gu on home ground. However, the rivalry also has a very personal factor: Gremaud’s former coach Misra Noto defected not once but twice to the Chinese team to support Gu at both the 2022 as well as just weeks ahead of the 2026 games. A betrayal that took Gremaud three years to overcome the first time, and that she vows not to forgive a second time.
But today was redemption day and Gremaud finished on top of the podium ahead of Gu, securing her second Olympic gold medal in her third Olympic appearance. The 26-year-old Fribourg native now owns two slopestyle golds and a slopestyle silver from 2018. She also is the 2023 and 2025 slopestyle World Champion and continues to lead the FIS World Cup standings in the race for the slopestyle Crystal Globe this season. Gremaud has also won 11 X Games medals, four of which are gold.
As in Beijing four years earlier, the margin against Gu was razor thin. In 2022, Gremaud edged Gu by just 0.33 points—the closest finish in Olympic freeski history. This time in Livigno, only 0.38 points separated the two across their best runs, marking the second-closest Olympic freeski finish ever.
Gu set the early benchmark in the final with an opening run score of 86.58, which ultimately stood as her best of the day. She impressed judges by spinning all four directions through the rail section and, for the first time in competition, linking double corks on the jumps, going double cork 1080 into a double cork 1260.
- Related: Eileen Gu Claims First Win of the Season & Record 20th Career World Cup Victory at Laax, Switzerland
Gremaud, however, remained within striking distance with a technically difficult run. Despite acknowledging small mistakes in her first run—brief hand drags on two kickers—the Swiss team believed to have the victory in the bag. Her coaches were cheering on the top and Gremaud was pumping her fists in the finish after her first run but the scoring by the judges fell flat with a score of only 83.60. Her face in the finish fell after the score was announced. “I knew that I had made some small mistakes at the kicker,” Gremaud said in a post-race interview. “With both I had my hand on the ground, but I thought the run was better than Eileen’s.”
But Gremaud was not to be ruffled and in her second attempt delivered the decisive run of the contest, scoring 86.96 with a technically demanding line highlighted by a switch double cork 1260 safety grab into a regular double cork 1260 on the final jump. While the score was enough to pip Gu, some—including Gremaud—were surprised it wasn’t higher. “It was mega close and I think I deserved more,” she said. “But we are not here now to criticise the rating. In the end, it was enough for victory – that’s great.” Swiss broadcaster SRF expert Elias Ambühl noted that the score should have been even higher, calling the run “technically so demanding” that it merited more than 90 points.
The final run set up a head-to-head showdown, with Gu needing to improve to reclaim the lead. But the two-time Olympic champion slipped off her first rail and knew that this was it, skiing straight down to the finish. Likewise with the victory in the bag, Gremaud cruised through the slopestyle course, draped in the Swiss flag.
Despite not unleashing her signature double cork 1440—the trick that made her the first woman to land it in competition—Gremaud’s consistency and technical difficulty proved enough. Gu later described the event as the most progressive women’s slopestyle contest ever held.
Canada’s Megan Oldham rounded out the podium with bronze, earning Canada’s first Olympic women’s slopestyle medal since Sochi 2014. Oldham crashed hard on her final jump during her second run but held onto third place and sealed the medal with a best score of 76.46 in her final attempt.
American Avery Krumme was the lone U.S. finalist in the event, finishing 11th.
