Australia has named moguls skier Cooper Woods and aerial skier Danielle Scott as the nation’s flag bearers for the closing ceremony, while the strong results kept coming at the Milano-Cortina Games.
Gold medallist Woods, who started Australia’s gold rush in the opening week of the Games, was simply stoked to receive the honour of flag bearer alongside silver medallist Scott.
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“It means everything,” Woods said.
“I said this yesterday, it means more than the medals, all the glory, the fame.
“This is one of the best things you can do in sport, wave the flag for your country, so super excited.”
Scott was similarly taken aback by the honour.
“It’s an absolute privilege,” the four-time Olympian said.
“I think for me personally, these Games have just grown into the best it could have and the icing on the cake now is being given this opportunity.
“To represent such a successful winter team is unbelievable.”
Earlier, Australia’s mixed aerial team of Scott, Abbey Wilcox and Reilly Flanagan came fourth in the final.
The Australians missed a medal place by 23.64 points with the United States taking gold, silver for Switzerland and China rounding out the podium places.
Two Chinese skiers missed their landing, but they still earned enough air points to edge out of the Australians.
Aerials gold medallist Lydia Lassila did get her hopes up on Channel 9’s broadcaster, saying: “I think we have a medal”.
Meanwhile, Indra Brown’s women’s freeski half-pipe final was postponed due to heavy snowfall.
The 16-year-old qualified fourth for the final, ahead of defending champion and Chinese superstar Eileen Gu.
The final will now take place on Sunday night AEDT.
Bree Walker and Kiara Reddingius recorded Australia’s best ever finish in the two-woman bobsleigh as they finished tenth, while Germany won gold and silver with the United States taking bronze.
‘I JUST WANT TO GO HOME’: STAR’S RESPONSE TO POSTPONEMENT
Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo won a ground-breaking sixth gold at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Saturday, while heavy snow forced China’s freestyle skiing superstar Eileen Gu to wait for her elusive first title in Italy.
Klaebo’s victory in the men’s 50km mass start event saw him clinch his 11th Winter Olympics gold medal, extending the record he set earlier in these Games.
The 29-year-old also became the first athlete to win all six cross-country skiing races in one Games.
The only athlete in Winter or Summer Games history with more Olympic titles is American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won 23 golds.
Gu had been aiming to win a gold of her own at these Games on Saturday, having taken two silvers so far in Italy.
But heavy snowfall forced organisers to postpone the women’s freeski half-pipe final.
The event at Livigno Snow Park, high in the Italian Alps, has been pushed back to Sunday, the final day of competition, with better weather forecast.
Gu arrived at the Games targeting a clean sweep of golds in her three events after winning two golds and a silver at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where she was the host nation’s darling.
But she came up just short in the slopestyle and big air competitions in Livigno.
“Thank God this is my last event,” the 22-year-old US-born athlete said after qualifying earlier in the week. “I’m exhausted, I just want to go home to bed.” A host of other gold medals were up for grabs on the final full day of action. Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet combined to win gold for France in the mixed relay event of ski mountaineering in Bormio.
Ski mountaineering is making its Olympic debut at the Milan-Cortina Games and while the ‘skimo’ sprints offered a condensed version of the sport, the mixed relay proved to be a true lung-busting race.
Scott wins Aerials Silver Medal | 00:53
– Double French gold –
Harrop and Anselmet clocked a winning time of 26min 57.44sec in the relay, consisting of ascents on skis and sections on foot with skis attached to the backpack.
“It’s a crazy feeling. The Olympics are the top of any athlete’s dream,” said Harrop.
The Swiss duo of Marianne Fatton and Jon Kistler claimed silver, 11.86sec behind, with Spain’s Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll rounding out the podium.
An hour later, France won their sixth gold medal in biathlon of this Games when Oceane Michelon took the glory in the women’s mass start event.
Biathlon accounts for six of France’s eight gold medals overall so far. In Livigno, favourite Simone Deromedis delighted Italian fans by winning the freestyle skiing skicross event to take the home nation’s gold medal count at these Games to 10.
In men’s curling later, Britain will seek to upgrade the silver medal they won four years ago in Beijing when they take on Canada in the final.
“It’s such a good opportunity to put our sport on a platform that we don’t often get,” said Britain’s Bruce Mouat.
Canada coach Paul Webster called Britain the “best team in the world”. There was drama at the bobsleigh track when the Austrian four-man team overturned at high speed.
Pilot Jakob Mandlbauer was stretchered off after the bob hurtled down the track for a good 30 seconds on its side.
Tournament favourites Canada and the USA will face off for ice hockey gold at Milan’s Santagiulia Arena on Sunday, while Finland and Slovakia will battle for bronze on Saturday.
Nathan MacKinnon scored Canada’s winner in the final seconds to complete a thrilling comeback from two goals down in a 3-2 win against Finland on Friday, while the Americans breezed to a 6-2 victory over the Slovaks.
“It’s everything. It’s the gold medal at an Olympic Games,” said MacKinnon, with Canada eyeing their record 10th Olympic title but the first since Sochi 2014.
The USA are targeting their first Olympic title since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice”. The ice hockey rosters at Milan-Cortina are packed with players from the National Hockey League (NHL), who are competing at the Olympic Games for the first time since 2014.
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