Cooper Woods has stunned himself as well as the moguls world by coming from nowhere to win gold, claiming Australia’s first medal of the Milan-Cortina Olympics.

The 25-year-old had never even won a World Cup event and didn’t advance through the first qualification in the top 10.

But Woods rose to the occasion in remarkable fashion.

He topped the second qualification round on Thursday morning (local time) and then shocked the field to also gain the No.1 ranking for the final, meaning he came out of the gates last.

All-time greats Mikael Kingsbury of Canada and Japan’s Akuma Horishima were the skiers to beat. When Woods’s score lit up it was the same as Kingsbury – 83.71 – but the Australian had the higher turns score giving him the gold.

Canoe superstar and six-time Olympic medallist Jessica Fox presented Woods with medal, leaving him a little star-struck.

“It was an amazing honour to receive my gold medal from a fellow champion,” Woods said.

“She’s an Aussie icon – so lovely. But it threw me off guard, she was very emotional handing me the medal and it brought a lot of significance to that moment.

“She started tearing up a little bit, and I was just, ‘Oh my god, is this Jess Fox!’, that was so cool.

“It was really nice to receive something so elite from an Aussie icon.”

Australian Chef de Mission Alyssa Camplin, who won gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics, made up a trio of Aussie champs at the ceremony.

Cooper Woods was embraced by Jessica Fox after she presented him with his gold medal. Photo: AAP

Woods stuns himself and moguls world

After finishing sixth in Beijing in his debut Olympic Games, Woods had had a lean 2025-26 World Cup season and has been on the podium only once in his career, back in 2024.

“This season, 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,” said Woods, who grew up in Pambula Beach on the NSW far south coast.

“There’s something when there’s so much pressure where you can just let it all go and embrace it.

“Happened in Beijing, too, where I was, I got nothing to lose – let’s have at it.”

Cooper Woods celebrates after his golden freestyle skiing men’s moguls. Photo: AAP 

Woods said being the new Olympic champion hadn’t really sunk in.

“It’s something you dream of, day in, day out, as a kid, through the hard days, through the good days,” he said.

“It’s an absolute journey, and a lot of people don’t get to be in this position.

“But you know what? 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.

“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.”

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

Graham placed fifth and Harvey eighth.

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

It is Australia’s seventh Winter Olympic gold overall.

Woods and his teammates still have the dual moguls, which has been added to the Olympic program in Milan-Cortina.

But that won’t dampen his plans to celebrate with his family and friends, who have travelled from Australia.

“I’m probably going to have a few beers,” he said.

“I might get in trouble for this, but [the medal] is a pretty nice-looking beer coaster.”

Fox in awe of daredevil athletes 

On duty before the Games as a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, Jessica Fox has been spending time with the Australian team in Livigno.

She was watching on when an uncharacteristic error midway through Anthony’s medal round race saw her hopes of winning successive gold medals slip away.

The pair caught up after the Paris Olympics where the canoe great won her third gold, while Anthony was sidelined with a broken collarbone.

As well as being Olympic champions, they have both carried the Australian flag in the opening ceremony, with Fox offering advice on how to deal with the extra attention from that and the pressure of defending a title.

A non-skier, Fox said she’d been in awe of the daredevil athletes in their high-stakes winter sports.

“Unfortunately, as a summer athlete I’ve been chasing summer since I was a kid,” she said.

“I skied once as, like an eight-year-old, and then once again in 2018 or 2019, but I thought it was really irresponsible in case I did my ACL just before the Olympics.

“I look at them and I think winter athletes are just built different – they are incredible, fearless.

“I’m going to say robust because some of the falls I’ve seen and they just get back up and ski or snowboard off. It’s insane what they do, and I have so much respect and admiration for them.”

—AAP