Kokomo Murase Wins Olympic Big Air Gold

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott took home the silver medal. She forced her own hand when she fell on run one. In run two, she pulled out a backside triple cork 1440 mute, landed on her heel edge, but managed to stay upright and off the snow. Her fans everywhere let out a collective exhale of relief, and the judges handed her a score of 88.75. Dropping in for her third run in 12th place and needing to stomp a trick have a shot at the podium, Sadowski-Synnott put down a switch backside 1260 and stomped it. Judges rewarded her with an 83.50 that vaulted her into first place. She’d have to sit and wait while Murase and Brookes dropped in, though.

As she dropped in for her final run, Mia Brookes was on the outside looking in. She was in fourth place, despite landing both of her previous runs. Brookes clapped twice, ollied on her drop in, and dropped in. She grabbed mute, spun flat four-and-a-half times for a 1620. It was a trick she had never put down before in a contest.

Brookes couldn’t stomp it, though, as she reverted out of her landing and did not improve upon her previous two scores.

Then came Murase. The heavy favorite coming into this event from the start, the Japanese rider opened up with a backside triple cork 1440 mute grab in run one. She threw a frontside triple cork 1280 Indy in her second run, and as stylish as it was, it only scored her a 72. She sat in third place when she threw down her frontside triple cork 1440. Minutes later, she’d learn she was headed back to the Olympic Athletes Village with a gold medal.

Korea’s Yu Seungeun won the bronze medal in an incredible coming-out party. She put down a backside triple cork 1440 mute for her first run, then stomped a frontside triple cork 1440 in her second. Seungeun was so fired up that she unstrapped and hucked her board in elation. That put her in first place until Sadowski-Synott and then, eventually, Murase overtook her.

Anna Gasser’s reign as the only woman to win Olympic Big Air gold has come to an end. The Austrian rider made her debut at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. She finished in tenth place after falling on both of her finals runs. Then at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, she rode her way to a big air gold.

Gasser defended the title and won at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. In the spring of 2025, she announced that the 2026 Games would be her last. It was a fitting ending, seeing as the Games were so close to her home country. But over the summer, Gasser dislocated her shoulder during a surfing trip, and had surgery in order to be 100% for these Olympic Games. Gasser fell on her first run, and reverted during the landing of an otherwise flawless run two. With the podium out of the picture, in pure Gasser style, she finished off her day by throwing a backside double cork 1080 with the Japan grab. She will now focus her attention to slopestyle.