Wilson shocks the world to claim first career victory on 2026 Olympic course

Mogul skier Charlotte Wilson has stunned the FIS World Cup circuit, claiming her first career victory in the dual mogul’s event on the site of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, next February.

The NSWIS scholarship athlete sets the record for the fewest amount of starts by an Australian mogul skier to win world cup gold, in just her 10th start of her first season competing at the highest level. Wilson is only the third Australian female mogul skier to win a world cup event following in the footsteps of World Champion Britt Cox and Olympic Champion Jakara Anthony (NSWIS).

Just a day after she was named FIS World Cup Mogul Skiing Rookie of the Year and placed eighth in the single moguls competition, Wilson started the dual moguls strongly, defeating world number four Canadian Maia Schwinghammer 18 to 17 in the round of 32.

Wilson then defeated world number three Rino Yanagimoto of Japan in the quarterfinals 23 to 12 to set up a semi-final matchup with 2018 Olympic Champion and world number two Perrine Lafont of France.

In the semifinal, Wilson won a close dual against the French champion 18-17, to advance to the gold medal dual with current world number one Jaelin Kauf of the USA.

Wilson continued her incredible form against the American, winning 22-13 for the first podium and victory of her career.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, this is an incredible day and an incredible feeling. I spoke earlier about wanting that momentum from yesterday to carry on and I really think it did today” said the 20-year-old from the NSW Snowy Mountains.

“I was just trying to do my run today, blinkers on and put down the best run I could, I knew I would have to really push the speed today and I obviously managed to do that.

“It’s a good confidence boost leading into next year, top-10 yesterday and a win today, the next 11 months are going to be tough and hard work, but I really like the venue and next year is going to be awesome.”

In the men’s event NSWIS’s Cooper Woods had his best finish of the season finishing in fifth place, pushing Olympic gold medallist and World cup wins record holder Mikael Kingsbury in his quarter-final, beating the Canadian across the line, but a stumble cost him on the last turn and the judges awarded the win to Kingsbury 22-13.

Olympic medallist Matt Graham (NSWIS) was unable to compete in the dual moguls after a crash yesterday in the single moguls super-final. Graham went to hospital for precautionary scans which came back negative for any damage. Graham is aiming to compete next week at the world championships.

The final competition of the season is the prestigious FIS World Championships, which will take place in the iconic Swiss resort of St Moritz, featuring the moguls event on March 19 and dual moguls on March 21.

Story courtesy of Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA)

Photos: Chris Hocking