Oldham wins gold, Sarault claims silver, hockey final set at Milan Cortina Olympics

MILAN – Megan Oldham delivered Canada’s second gold medal of the Milan-Cortina Olympics on Monday, winning the women’s freestyle skiing big air competition.

The 24-year-old from Parry Sound, Ont., finished with a two-run combined score of 180.75 to edge defending Olympic champion Eileen Gu of China, who posted 179.00, while Italy’s Flora Tabanelli took bronze at 178.25.

“I’m so proud of myself for being able to come out here and land the tricks that I wanted tonight and to show my best skiing and just make Canada proud,” Oldham said.

“I’m on cloud nine right now. I’m still processing everything. I don’t even think the emotion has fully hit me yet.”

Oldham, who also won bronze in slopestyle last week, pushed Canada’s overall medal total to 11 on Day 10 of the Games.

“Honestly, this has been an Olympics that has totally surpassed my dreams,” she said. “I wanted to come home with one medal, and to come home with gold is something I never thought was possible … I’m so proud of myself.”

Naomi Urness of Mont-Tremblant, Que., finished sixth.

Earlier, Courtney Sarault earned her third medal of the Olympics with silver in the women’s 1,000 metres in short-track speedskating.

Sarault, a 25-year-old from Moncton, added to a medal haul that already included mixed team relay silver and individual bronze in the 500 from earlier in the Games.

She held the lead for the first six of nine laps before falling to third with two laps to go. However, Sarault fought her way back into second on the final lap.

“Just crazy,” she said of the feeling to have a third medal. “From four years ago, I’ve come such a long way. In this distance, I think I came 11th (at the 2022 Beijing Games).

“I made a mistake in the quarterfinal, I believe, and just didn’t have a good day. And today, I feel like I made a little mistake in my final, but I’d rather make a mistake in my final and get silver than not get a medal at all.”

Canada will play for women’s Olympic hockey gold again.

Captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice in a tight 2-1 semifinal win over Switzerland, becoming the first player to reach 20 career Olympic goals and breaking Hayley Wickenheiser’s record of 18.

“She’s just such an incredible player. I know we all know it, but she shines in moments like this,” Canadian defender Renata Fast said of her teammate. 

“But it’s the work she puts in every single day that allows her to do it. It’s not by fluke, it’s not just by pure skill, it is work ethic.”

The defending champions will face the United States in Thursday’s final, marking Canada’s eighth straight appearance in the Olympic gold-medal game. 

The North American rivals have met in every Olympic final but one since women’s hockey debuted in 1998, with Canada holding a 5-2 edge in those matchups.

The Americans, however, handed Canada a 5-0 loss in preliminary round play earlier in the tournament.

Canada’s bid for another figure skating medal came up short in pairs as Lia Pereira of Milton, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont., slipped from third after the short program to finish eighth following a mistake-filled free skate.

The duo scored 199.66 overall after errors on their jump sequence and throw elements stalled their podium push.

The young pair have a lot to build on coming out of their first Olympics, Michaud said.

“We’ve had four very good performances and lots to take out of them, and we’re super proud of both of us,” he said. “Looking forward to worlds to put ourselves back into that conversation with that last group.

“This feels right, and I’m just excited to see where this can go.”

Former world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek of Chicago and Maxime Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., placed 11th with 192.61.

Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara rebounded from a shaky short program to claim gold with a clean, personal-best free skate.

In women’s curling, Rachel Homan earned a pair of wins at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, defeating China’s Rui Wang 10-5 before edging Japan’s Sayaka Yoshimura 9-6.

The Ottawa-based rink of Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes, who entered the day on a three-game losing skid, moved to 3-3 in round-robin play and into a tie for fifth. Only the top four advance to the playoff round.

The wins came a day after World Curling walked back expanded hog-line monitoring that drew complaints following a controversial call against Homan.

However, after a request by China in the earlier game, an umpire was again stationed to watch the hog line on Homan’s deliveries.

“I mean there’s always something blowing up at the Olympics, right?” Miskew said. “So this year it’s this. It’s all good, we’ll get through it and I think that it’ll die down eventually.”

On the men’s side, Brad Jacobs guided Canada to an 8-2 victory over Czechia’s Lukas Klima to improve to 5-1 in round-robin play. Jacobs’ rink will face top-ranked Bruce Mouat of Great Britain on Tuesday night.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2026.