Canada's Oldham, Asselin soar onto big air podium at Copper Mountain
National teammates take gold, bronze respectively at freestyle skiing World Cup event
Canada's Megan Oldham and Olivia Asselin shared the ski big air World Cup podium on Friday in Copper Mountain, Colo.
Oldham won the event to capture her first medal of the season, and her first-ever big air medal. The Parry Sound, Ont., native scored 176 points over her first two runs, which was enough to stand for top spot even after the rest of the field's third jumps.
"I wasn't expecting it," said Oldham of her scores. "I was mainly focused on landing my jumps, and I was hoping for good weather, which we got.
"I'm happy to have ended up with both feet on the podium."
WATCH | Oldham, Asselin reach podium at Copper Mountain:
Asselin, 18, took bronze to reach the first World Cup podium of her career. The Quebec City native rebounded from a tough first run to total 169 points over her final two attempts and leap onto the podium.
"Things didn't go particularly well in training, so my expectations were low, but I landed some great jumps in the final, so I'm really happy," Asselin said.
Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud, the reigning Olympic bronze medallist, took the silver medal with 172 points.
For Oldham, it's a step in the right direction after placing fourth in the event at the Beijing Olympics despite entering as the top qualifier. The 21-year-old also finished fourth in big air at the 2021 world championships, where she also secured bronze in slopestyle.
The Canadian has taken big air silver and slopestyle bronze at each of the past two Winter X Games.
She placed eighth in her first big air World Cup of the season in Switzerland in October.
Asselin, meanwhile, entered with a previous World Cup career-best of fourth place at Mammoth Mountain, Calif., last season.
She qualified for two finals at the Olympics, placing eighth in big air and 11th in slopestyle.
