Maïa Schwinghammer competes in the Olympics freestyle moguls event on Wednesday.Fabrizio Troccoli/The Globe and Mail
Canada’s best hope for a medal in the Olympics freestyle moguls event, Saskatchewan’s Maïa Schwinghammer, narrowly missed the podium on Wednesday, denying her the success she had earned in last year’s World Cup.
Schwinghammer, 24, delivered a fine performance in the event’s first run on an unusually warm, sunny day in Livigno, one of the Olympic mountain towns. She finished sixth among 20 competitors, earning her a top-eight spot for the second, and final, run.
But it was not as splendid, and she ended up missing the podium by a mere 0.39 points, handing her a fifth-place finish.
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Gold went to American Elizabeth Lemley, whose dazzling performance pushed Jaelin Kauf, also of the U.S., into distant second. Perrine Laffont of France took bronze.
The defending Olympic champion, Australian Jakara Anthony, and favourite going into the event, lost her edge in the final round, fumbled a bump and finished eighth.
Lemley, 20, acknowledged being a bit of a thrill-seeker in a postevent press conference. The daughter of a pilot, she’s held her own licence to fly since age 17. “I love doing aerial tricks,” she said.
She grew up on skis in Vail, Colo., and made her World Cup debut when she was only 15, one of the youngest to do so. She has been mentored by Freddy Mooney, the coach who helped Quebec’s Mikaël Kingsbury utterly dominate the moguls sport, with 100 World Cup victories and three Olympic medals.
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Despite her podium miss, Schwinghammer was all smiles when she finished the race – her first Olympic experience.
“I am so proud of the way I was able to handle my nerves,” she told reporters. “Wow, the Olympics are for real, so nerve wracking and stressful but what an incredible experience.”
She earned her first World Cup victory in January, 2025, during the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup, making her a rising star among mogul bashers.
But she came into the Olympics at a disadvantage. “I’ve had a tough season on my skis this year,” she said. “I have been battling some injuries and some lack of confidence in my skiing and missed some training camps.”
Schwinghammer’s next chance at the podium is on Sunday in the dual moguls race, a new Olympic event.
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On Thursday, Kingsbury, 33, will compete in the men’s moguls. He will also compete in the dual moguls. He has said that Milan Cortina is his last Olympics. His entire family will be at the base of the run, and he wants to give them a show they will remember.