Fraser just misses halfpipe medal, leaves Milano Cortina with personal best
Amy Fraser came just shy of the podium in the final freestyle skiing event at Milano Cortina 2026.
The 30-year-old delivered two great runs on Sunday in the women’s freeski halfpipe final. She scored an 85.00 in her first run, positioning her in second place at the time, and bested that run with an 88.00 in her final run.
Unfortunately for Fraser, it was 4.5 points shy of the podium, and she will leave her second Olympic Games with a fourth place finish.
“That’s some of my best skiing,” she said. “I think there’s always room for improvement, clearly, being [a few] points shy of the podium, but whatever.”
The women’s ski halfpipe final was initially scheduled to take place on Saturday, but inclement weather pushed it back an extra day. On Sunday, conditions were perfect at Livigno Snow Park.
“Yesterday was, like, absolutely miserable,” Fraser said. “This is the kind of halfpipe I always want to be skiing in the sun and no wind.”
Fraser ranked seventh in the qualifying round on Thursday. In the final round, she delivered one of the best runs of her career, nailing each of her five tricks.
“I’m pretty proud of myself for doing that run a bunch of times. It’s super hard and, yeah, I don’t know. I’m shocked I did it.”
Fraser finished eighth in halfpipe in Beijing 2022 where she made her Olympic debut.
The top spot on the podium went to Eileen Gu of China who defended her Olympic halfpipe title, and collected her third medal of these Games. China’s Fanghui Li took silver, while Britain’s Zoe Atkins claimed bronze.
Canada’s other finalist Rachael Karker finished in seventh place. She was the defending bronze medallist after her podium in Beijing 2022.
Karker delivered the third best score (79.50) of the second run, and looked to be in good condition to improve on that in the third run, but went down on her opening trick of the final round.
“Quite sore, but I’ll be alright,” she said.
Fraser had been dealing with a knee injury heading into the final. She said the heavy landings were taking a toll on her physically.
“I’m very proud. I did everything I could with what I had today.”
Both Fraser and Karker felt the team spirit of the freestyle skiing team in their post-run interviews. The skiers expressed their support of Brendan Mackay, Karker’s fiance, who took home bronze in the men’s competition on Friday.
“I am so unbelievably proud of Brendan,” said Fraser. “He absolutely crushed it. I think he should have been higher on the podium, but I mean that’s probably my bias.”
“I think we have a pretty strong team.”
