Aspen Colorado Jan 27, 2023, Along with the Olympic Games and World Championships, X-Games is considered to be one of the most prestigious events by athletes and industry insiders. Receiving an invitation to this exclusive event represents an esteemed status in itself, but standing on top of the podium gives athletes the opportunity to become a household name and an icon in their sport. For this 21-year-old from Parry Sound Ontario, Megan Oldham made history not once but twice. She was the first woman to compete with a left triple cork 1440 mute grab, three flips and four rotations off axis with a position, in the Big Air event and to top it she is the first woman to receive a perfect score of 50. With the level of Women’s Freeski continuing to grow, Megan wanted to continue to push herself and the current level of the sport to new heights. In November of 2022, Megan dedicated herself to learning new skill progressions on the trampoline and air bag to pursue her dream to land a triple. Around Christmas time, Megan revised her plan and targeted X-Games and World Championships 2023.
With early confirmation of her selection to the Canadian Freestyle Ski World Championship team, she was able to make the decision to trade in competing in the January World Cups for more training to improve her odds of success for upcoming major events. On January 2, 2023 Megan travelled to Australia with her brother Bruce and Coach JF Cusson for focused training on an air bag to lock in the technique required for this trick.
Coach JF had this to say of her X-Games gold medal performance, “It is unbelievable! Megan has only been skiing for six years but she possesses so much athletic maturity. She has the strongest work ethic I have ever seen, sage intelligence about her career, commitment to training and talent and with this all put together makes her an absolute athlete, a machine on the snow. She is the first women to complete this trick and she achieved it with the skill of a true competitor.” Cusson went on to say, “During my time with this team and our many successes, this is one of my favorite podium results because of the process we had and the magnitude of what was achieved.”
Gratitude to all of Megan’s coaches and supporters including the Government of Canada and Own the Podium.
Follow Freestyle Canada to Watch Megan and her teammates at World Championships February 18th through March 5th from Bakuriani, Georgia as as the rest of the 22-23 World Cup events until the end of March.
