Canadian freeskier Megan Oldham strikes gold — again

**Canada’s Megan Oldham poses with a young fan after winning the X Games women’s slopestyle ski finals at Buttermilk Ski Area on Sunday. (Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times)**
*Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times*

A gold medal wasn’t enough for Megan Oldham.

The Canadian won her first gold in the women’s Big Air ski competition on Friday and put on a strong run on Sunday to take first place in the women’s slopestyle ski finals on the final day of X Games Aspen at Buttermilk Ski Area.

She was able to dominate her second slopestyle run, cleaning the rails and hitting big on the jumps, allowing her to lead the rest of the seven-person field. Rounding out the podium were Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud in silver and Team Great Britain’s Kirsty Muir in bronze.

Sunday’s gold capped a fairytale experience for 21-year-old Oldham, who has now won seven X Games medals.

“I think I’m still a bit overwhelmed because I kind of came to the X Games with one goal in mind, and that was to land the triple (which she did at Big Air on Friday). And I didn’t expect to walk away with gold in slopestyle. So I’m so happy,” she said.

It didn’t hurt that the family cheered for them on the sidelines.

“She’s been working towards this for a long time,” said her brother Bruce Oldham. “I mean, she’s consistent every day and works hard all the time. This year she really wanted to do something and show what she’s capable of and make a mark.”

In slopestyle, judges look for execution, amplitude, difficulty and variety of maneuvers, landings and use of the 1,700 foot course along the face of Buttermilk, which drops approximately 290 meters in elevation. The seven athletes competed in a 35-minute jam format.

Runner-up Gremaud said she was a little scared about this competition but happy with how everything turned out.

“However, I wasn’t feeling very comfortable on the slopes this week, especially on the shark fin,” she said. “It just feels good to learn a good run, but I was just missing something.”

This was a successful freeski weekend for the ladies of Team Great Britain. On Saturday, Zoe Atkin won her first X Games gold medal in halfpipe skiing. Muir’s bronze was also an outstanding achievement.

No Americans competed in the slopestyle contest on Sunday. The Chinese Eileen Gu and the Estonian Kelly Sildaru, both of whom would have been among the favourites, had to retire after injuries in training.