Charlotte Wilson wins FIS Freestyle World Cup dual moguls gold at Olympic test event
By Simon Smale
Topic:Freestyle Skiing
18m ago18 minutes agoWed 12 Mar 2025 at 9:13pm
Charlotte Wilson smiles and holds up her skis next to Jaelin Kauf
Charlotte Wilson (left) beat overall World Cup winner Jaelin Kauf in the final. (Supplied: OWIA/Chris Hocking)
In short:
Charlotte Wilson claimed gold, beating the women ranked third, second and first in succession in the dual moguls event.
The Livigno leg of the World Cup acts as a test event for the Winter Olympic Games, which will take place on the same slope next year.
What's next?
The aerials skiers will hit the jump on Thursday night on their final leg of the World Cup circuit
Charlotte Wilson has capped a magnificent debut season by winning her first ever FIS World Cup gold medal on the Olympic course at Livigno, Italy.
Just 24 hours after the 20-year-old was named as the FIS Freestyle moguls Rookie of the Year, Wilson stunned a series of the world's best to win the dual moguls event.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," Wilson told the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA).
"This is an incredible day and an incredible feeling."
Wilson's road to victory could not have been tougher, coming up against the top three-ranked women on this year's tour in successive head-to-head matches.
Having already accounted for French legend Perrine Laffont in the semi and Japanese skier Rino Yanagimoto in the quarters, Wilson beat overall World Cup winner Jaelin Kauf 22-13 in the final.
Charlotte Wilson leaps off a jump
Charlotte Wilson (left) was behind Jaelin Kauf, but a brilliant middle sector saw the young Aussie overtake the American champion. (Supplied: OWIA/Chris Hocking)
"I spoke earlier about wanting that momentum from yesterday to carry on and I really think it did today," she said.
"I was going to give it my best shot. You don't get these opportunities all the time.
"It was crazy to just be able to keep up with Jaelin, let alone win."
Dual moguls will be contested at the Winter Olympics for the first time next year in Livigno, with this World Cup leg acting as a test event.
With last year's Crystal Globe winner and reigning Olympic champion Jakara Anthony still injured, Wilson's victory shows the future of Australian moguls skiing is in good hands at present.
"It's a good confidence boost leading into next year," Wilson said.
"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."
Charlotte Wilson holds a trophy and smiles
Charlotte Wilson was only making her 10th World Cup start. (Supplied: OWIA/Chris Hocking)
In the men's event, Matt Graham was not able to start in the dual moguls after a horror crash in the singles the day prior.
Graham made it through to the top-six final but crashed heavily on the middle moguls section, leaving him heavily winded.
"Unfortunately I went down pretty hard in the medal round yesterday," he wrote on Instagram.
"After coughing up blood after the incident, I needed to get scans to make sure everything was still in one piece.
"Thankfully there are no major concerns and everything is intact.
"Just some bleeding and bruising in my lungs and general soreness from the impact.
"I guess you can expect that when you take in a mogul at 40kmh."
Olympic finalist in Beijing Cooper Woods had his best result of the season, finishing in fifth place, losing out to Canadian legend Mikaël Kingsbury, who recorded his 99th World Cup victory.
Graham is expected to make a full recovery in time for the World Championships in St Moritz, which get underway on March 17.
Next up on the Olympic course will be the aerials squad, who are in action on Thursday night AEDT.
Australian Laura Peel leads the overall standings and needs to finish 12th or higher to claim the overall title.
The ABC of SPORT
Sports content to make you think... or allow you not to. A newsletter delivered each Saturday.
Your information is being handled in accordance with the ABC Privacy Collection Statement.
Posted18m ago18 minutes agoWed 12 Mar 2025 at 9:13pm
Copy link
X (formerly Twitter)