Megan Oldham picks up 2nd slopestyle World Cup medal of season, earning bronze
Canadian grabbed slopestyle silver, big air bronze at worlds earlier in season
Freestyle skier Megan Oldham of Parry Sound, Ont., scored 90.00 points in her opening run and held on for a bronze-medal finish in women's slopestyle at a World Cup event on Saturday in Tignes, France.
Sarah Hoefflin of Switzerland attempted to knock her Canadian opponent off the medal podium but came up short, scoring 84.25 for fourth place.
Hoefflin's teammate, Mathilde Gremaud, took the competition with a 96.25-point performance in the second of two runs, while Norway's Johanne Killi was a close second at 95.25.
Oldham excelled in her first of two runs in the final. Clean on the first two jumps and on the rails, she then lost her balance a little on the back landing of the last jump but her hands didn't touch the ground. Oldham fell when trying to land a jump during her second run.
"My landings were all clean on my first run, but my grab was iffy on the first jump, kinda borderline," she told Freestyle Canada. "Still, this is the best season of my career and I'm very happy with the way I skied."
She also won a big air event on Dec. 16 at Copper Mountain in Colorado for her first World Cup victory of the season.
WATCH | Oldham holds off Swiss opponent for World Cup bronze:
She ended February with a standout effort for her second world championship medal, collecting silver after finishing 2-10ths of a point behind Gremaud. Oldham followed four days later with big air bronze. She also picked up bronze in her 2021 debut at worlds.
4th in Olympic big air
On Jan. 28 in Aspen, Colo., the 21-year-old Oldham made action sports history when she landed the first-ever triple cork in a women's ski or snowboard event on the way to winning an X Games gold medal in the ski big air final.
Oldham was a silver medallist the previous year in Aspen and fourth in big air at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
Next week, she'll travel to Silvaplana, Switzerland, for the final slopestyle World Cup of the season.
"This year's battle for the Crystal Globe [as overall season champion] is fierce because the rankings leader [Killi by 170 points over Hoefflin] has won three World Cups and finished second today," Oldham said. "She'll be hard to catch, but I do have a chance to get on the final podium."
Elsewhere on Saturday, Brynn Johnston (72.75) of Comox, B.C., and Calgary's Rylee Hackler (54.00) didn't advance from qualifying action, placing 11th and 18th overall.
In the men's field of 16, Evan McEachran of Oakville, Ont., and Max Moffatt of Guelph, Ont., finished 10th and 13th, respectively, with scores of 82.25 and 64.25. Calgary's Mark Hendrickson (77.25) didn't qualify for the final.
WATCH | Oldham earns slopestyle world silver medal:
