Cooper Woods

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Cooper Woods
Personal information
Full nameCooper Woods-Topalovic
NationalityAustralian
Born (2000-09-07) 7 September 2000 (age 25)
Merimbula, New South Wales, Australia
Sport
Sport Freestyle skiing
Event
 Moguls
ClubNSWIS
Medal record
International freestyle ski competitions
Event1st2nd3rd
Olympic Games 100
Total100
Men's freestyle skiing
Representing Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2026 Milano Cortina Moguls

Cooper Woods-Topalovic (born 7 September 2000) is an Australian freestyle skier who won the gold medal in the men's moguls at the 2026 Winter Olympics. [1]

Contents

Early life

Woods was born in the coastal town of Merimbula, New South Wales. His parents, Katrina Woods and Matt Topalovic, were both members of the national skiing team. [2] He began skiing at the age of two and tried a variety of sports throughout his childhood such as golf, soccer, surfing and rugby. [3] He joined the Perisher Winter Sports Club at 12 years of age. [4] Woods has been mentored by former Wallabies captain John Eales since 2022 and the pair have worked together on mental resetting processes. [5]

Career

Woods broke into the World Cup top-10 in moguls on 7 January 2022, finishing ninth in Tremblant, and bested that five days later, by finishing fifth in Deer Valley. He trains out of Perisher Valley, New South Wales. [6] [7]

In the 2022 Winter Olympics, he competed in the Men's Moguls, ultimately finishing in 6th place. At the 2026 Winter Olympics, Woods finished 15th in the initial qualifier, forcing him to race once more in the second qualification round, securing him the 11th position in the first final round [8] . He would then get the highest round score in finals 1. In finals 2, he achieved a score of 83.71, the same as Mikael Kingsbury, with his higher score in turns ultimately allowing him to claim Australia's 7th Winter Olympics gold medal. [1] [9]

References

  1. 1 2 "Freestyle Skiing Men's Moguls Results". Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics. 12 February 2026. Retrieved 13 February 2026.
  2. ↑ Dixon, Catriona (12 June 2023). "Community the golden heart of Cooper Woods' Olympic dream". olympics.com.au. Archived from the original on 25 April 2025.
  3. ↑ Cooper Woods Unleash Your Passion
  4. ↑ Cooper Woods - Olympic Winter Institute of Australia
  5. ↑ Rugby legend inspiring Australian skier's Olympic hopes
  6. ↑ "Cooper Woods-Topalovic". Beijing 2022 Olympics. Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  7. ↑ "Cooper Woods". International Ski Federation .
  8. ↑ Hytner, Mike (13 February 2026). "Ice in his veins: Australian skier Cooper Woods embraces pressure to realise Winter Olympic dream". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 13 February 2026.
  9. ↑ "Breaking: Woods wins stunning moguls gold". ABC News. 12 February 2026. Retrieved 12 February 2026.


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