Stay across the highs and lows of the Games with the ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/a> and ABC Sport<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is the dream of so many, achieved by so few, but realised in such dramatic fashion by this 25-year-old from the Far South Coast.<\/p>\n “It’s pretty amazing,” Woods told media and a rapidly growing collection of admirers on the streets of Livigno on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n “I’ve said it a few times today, but this medal’s not only for me, it’s for everyone else who’s been part of the journey, those that have helped me achieve this massive milestone in my career.<\/p>\n “It’s been a crazy journey and I can’t believe we’re here.”<\/p>\n Cooper Woods claimed Australia’s first Olympic gold medal of the 2026 Games. (ABC Sport: Hamish Harty)<\/p>\n The hours after winning an Olympic medal can be a blur for athletes.<\/p>\n There’s more attention, more demands on your time as you’re whizzed from podium to mix zone to press conference to studio and then more press conferences.<\/p>\n But everywhere he’s been, Woods has taken time to interact with supporters, hundreds of whom are in Livigno following these Winter Games, leading cheer squads, hanging out of car doors, his medal always firmly in his grasp.<\/p>\n It would be hard to find a more down-to-earth athlete than Woods.<\/p>\n When ABC Sport spoke to him with 100 days to go before the Games, it was Woods who noted that Livigno had a great apr\u00e8s-ski culture that he was looking forward to sharing with us.<\/p>\n Relaxed. Fun. Living for the moment and enjoying every second. That is Woods down to a tee.<\/p>\n Woods made Australian Olympic history in Livigno. (Getty Images: Ian MacNicol)<\/p>\n But he said that in recent years, a sports psychologist and mentorship from Wallabies great John Eales has helped him discover something else.<\/p>\n “Essentially, I was just looking for a purpose,” he said.<\/p>\n “A sense of discipline.<\/p>\n “I was disciplined in my approach today and what I wanted to achieve.<\/p>\n “Each step, each goal, each mogul.”<\/p>\n Cooper Woods knew he needed to send it to claim a gold medal, and did. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)<\/p>\n Woods is a surprise winner only in as far as he simply does not have the same record of success at the highest level as many of the others who joined him in the Super Final.<\/p>\n Where Mika\u00ebl Kingsbury has won 100 FIS World Cup events, Ikuma Horishima 24, Matt Graham five and Walter Wallberg four, Woods has just one silver medal to his name.<\/p>\n But this is the man who, in Beijing four years ago, became just the third Australian man behind Dale Begg Smith and Matt Graham to reach an Olympic Super Final.<\/p>\n The talent and ability has always been there.<\/p>\n Cooper Woods will forever be Australia’s seventh Winter Olympic champion. (Getty Images: NurPhoto\/Ulrik Pedersen)<\/p>\n But it has been a tough two years for Woods, dealing with a knee injury that required pioneering surgery to fix and get him ready to compete in time for these Games.<\/p>\n “It’s been a bit of a rough patch,” he said.<\/p>\n “I haven’t been able to express my skiing the way I wanted to, especially in comp.”<\/p>\n Read more about the Winter Olympics:<\/p>\n But today, he felt nothing but an overwhelming sense of confidence at the top of the hill, a slowing of time and bending of the hill to his will, a feeling as rare as it is fleeting, but one that imbues whoever is blessed with it with a cloak of invincibility.<\/p>\n “It felt like time was taking forever to kind of run today, which is a really nice feeling,” Woods said.<\/p>\n “The other time I felt that was at the last Olympics, which is quite special.<\/p>\n “It was four years ago \u2026 it’s not often you get to feel moments like that.”<\/p>\n After missing out on making the top 10 in qualifying on Tuesday \u2014 something Woods admitted had given him a bit of fire to prove the judges wrong \u2014 he said pressure had the potential to make diamonds.<\/p>\n Cooper Woods roared in delight at his success. (Getty Images: Michael Reaves)<\/p>\n He was half-right.<\/p>\n But on this occasion, gold is a far more valuable commodity.<\/p>\n “I think pressure, pressure is a beautiful thing,” he said.<\/p>\n “Some people take it and some people can’t handle it.<\/p>\n “If you let it happen, it’s a beautiful thing.”<\/p>\n![\"Cooper](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/c6975dfbf40c6423062a30596068debc.jpeg\")
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