Rookie Australian skier Charlotte Wilson has stunned the field to claim World Cup gold in the dual moguls event on the site of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy.
In just her 10th World Cup start, the 20-year-old from Jindabyne upstaged her more fancied rivals, including 2018 Olympic champion Perrine Laffont of France and American world No.1 Jaelin Kauf, to take the trophy.
Wilson is only the third Australian female mogul skier to win a World Cup event, following in the footsteps of world champion Britt Cox and Olympic champion Jakara Anthony, who is currently recovering from a fractured collarbone.
Just a day after she was named FIS World Cup mogul skiing rookie of the year and placed eighth in the single moguls competition, Wilson started the dual moguls strongly, defeating world No.4 Canadian Maia Schwinghammer 18 to 17 in the round of 32.
Wilson then downed third-ranked Rino Yanagimoto of Japan in the quarter-finals 23 to 12 to set up a semi-final world No.2 Laffont.
She won that battle by a point and then took out top-ranked Kauf, outscoring the American 22-13 for the first podium and victory of her career.
"It hasn't sunk in yet, this is an incredible day and an incredible feeling," said Wilson, whose younger sister Abbey competes for Australia in snowboard cross.
"I was just trying to do my run today, blinkers on and put down the best run I could, I knew I would have to really push the speed today and I obviously managed to do that.
"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."
In the men's event NSW skier Cooper Woods had his best finish of the season, finishing in fifth place.
The 24-year-old met World Cup wins record-holder Mikael Kingsbury in his quarter-final and beat the Canadian across the line, but a stumble there cost him and the judges awarded the win to Kingsbury 22-13.
Olympic medallist Matt Graham was unable to compete in the dual moguls after a heavy crash in the single moguls super-final, which put him in doubt for next week's world championships in Switzerland.
"After coughing up blood after the incident, I needed to get scans to make sure everything was still in one piece," the 30-year-old wrote on Instagram.
"Thankfully there are no major concerns and everything is intact. Just some bleeding and bruising in my lungs and general soreness.
"I guess you can expect that when you take in a mogul at 40km/h."
