LIVIGNO, Italy – Swiss freestyle skiing champion Mathilde Gremaud’s Olympic journey concluded on a disappointing note after a training accident left her hospitalized and unable to compete in Monday’s big air finals.
The 26-year-old athlete, who had successfully defended her slopestyle Olympic championship just days earlier, was considered among the favorites to medal in big air competition following her third-place finish in qualifying rounds.
“It’s still a big success; it’s just a bummer that it ends like this,” Gremaud shared in an audio recording her team released Tuesday while she remained hospitalized awaiting medical clearance for discharge.
The accomplished skier, who previously earned slopestyle gold and big air bronze at the Beijing 2022 Games and slopestyle silver in Pyeongchang 2018, sustained a serious hip contusion but avoided any fractures.
“I just have to be slow and I cannot really bend on my side and stuff, so it’s okay. I’ll be sore for a while, but nothing broken and nothing that will give my body too much to fight for, I think,” she explained about her condition.
According to Gremaud, her primary objective for the Milano Cortina Games was successfully defending her slopestyle title, and after accomplishing that goal, she struggled to maintain concentration for subsequent competitions. She acknowledged that she “completely messed up” the maneuver that resulted in her crash.
Switzerland faced additional setbacks when Gremaud’s 22-year-old teammate Anouk Andraska also withdrew from Monday’s finals after sustaining injuries during practice.
The big air competition concluded with Canada’s Megan Oldham claiming gold, while American-born Chinese athlete Eileen Gu secured silver and Italy’s Flora Tabanelli earned bronze on home soil.
