Oldham sits in first place after freeski big air qualifying round

With a bronze medal already crossed off her checklist, Megan Oldham is eyeing the elusive first gold medal for Canada at the Olympic Games.

She put herself in perfect position on Saturday in the freeski big air qualifier, finishing in first place with a score of 171.75.

It’s a repeat result from Beijing 2022 as Oldham was also first in qualifying. She went on to finish fourth place in the final.

“I definitely have some bigger tricks for the final,” she said following the event.

In big air, athletes are scored on their two best jumps out of three. 

Oldham was the only skier on the day to break 90 points with her first jump of 91.25. After scoring just 56 points on the second jump, she made sure to land her third cleanly, scoring 80.5 points to take the top spot.

The defending Olympic champion, Ailing Eileen Gu of China, finished one point behind in second place.

Canadian Naomi Urness will join Oldham in the final as she was able to crack the Top 10, finishing in seventh with a score of 161.25.

Two other Canadians, Skye Clarke and Elena Gaskell, finished in 17th and 20th respectively and missed the cut.

Since 2022, Oldham has become a mainstay on the podium in international competitions including the big air event. She won bronze at the FIS World Championships in 2023, and gold at the X Games in the same year.

As of January 2026, Oldham has 11 career World Cup podiums, including four victories.

She took home bronze in the slopestyle earlier in the week.

READ: Megan Oldham captures ski slopestyle bronze at Milano Cortina 2026

The 12-woman final will take place on Monday. With the top qualifying score, Oldham will have the benefit of going last.

“Yeah, it’s nice starting last. It means you get to watch kind of what the other girls are doing and make a game plan or change things if you need to.”

“All these girls have a lot more tricks to show in the final… I think it’s going to be a lot tighter.”