{"id":478405,"date":"2026-02-14T00:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478405\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T00:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:33:09","slug":"josie-baff-gold-medal-for-australia-womens-snowboard-cross-win-at-milano-cortina-2026-beats-two-former-champions-in-final-news-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478405\/","title":{"rendered":"Josie Baff gold medal for Australia, women\u2019s snowboard cross win at Milano Cortina 2026, beats two former champions in final, news, video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s Josie Baff held off a late surge from former champion Eva Adamczykova to win Winter Olympics gold in the women\u2019s snowboard cross overnight \u2014 giving her nation two gold medals in as many days, having shaken off illness and a victory drought.<\/p>\n

Baff, 23, crossed the line in Livigno just 0.04 seconds ahead her Czech rival, who won the event at the 2014 Sochi Games. Italy\u2019s Michela Moioli, the gold medallist from Pyeongchang 2018, took bronze while Swiss teenager Noemie Wiedmer had to settle for fourth spot.<\/p>\n

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Wiedmer made the running in the early stages of the race but Baff overtook her on the inside to hit the front, opening up a significant lead.<\/p>\n

Adamczykova, 32, pushed hard as the competitors went over the final bump but Baff just held on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is how you write your name into the history books. What a run,\u201d commentator Dave Culbert said on Channel 9.<\/p>\n

Baff\u2019s gold medal was followed by Scotty James\u2019 silver in the men\u2019s snowboard halfpipe final<\/a>, meaning it was Australia\u2019s most successful day in Winter Olympics history, with the nation also matching its best ever single winter Games haul of two gold and one silver, first achieved in 2010.<\/p>\n

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Gold medallist Josie Baff of Australia \u2014 our second champion of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Aussie was elated after crossing the line, dropping to the snow as the realisation hit that she was an Olympic champion. On the dias, she burst into tears after looking down at the gold medal around her neck.<\/p>\n

The monumental win came nearly three years after the last of her two individual World Cup event victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. I can\u2019t really believe it, I knew I could do it and I knew deep down I had what it took,\u201d Baff told Channel 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t won in a very long time, so to be able to win here at this event and to have one of the world\u2019s most sought-after gold medals around my neck is absolutely incredible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t change anything for the world, I\u2019m so happy and thankful to all of my techs and my coaches and the team around and all of my friends and family here, I truly couldn\u2019t have done it without them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been easy, I had flu at the start of the week. I actually am just in shock, I\u2019m so happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia’s Josie Baff (front) leads the snowboard women’s cross final,Source: AFP<\/p>\n

She became Australia\u2019s second gold medallist of the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, after world No.20 Cooper Woods delivered a monumental upset one day earlier in the men\u2019s moguls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Baff also became just the eighth Aussie Winter Olympics gold medallist in history, joining Woods, Steven Bradbury (speed skating), Alisa Camplin (aerials), Dale Begg-Smith (moguls), Torah Bright (halfpipe), Lydia Lassila (aerials) and Jakara Anthony (moguls).<\/p>\n

Josie Baff celebrates her win as she crosses the finish line.Source: APJosie Baff kisses her medal.Source: AP<\/p>\n

Baff hails from the Snowy Mountains region of NSW. She is a former Youth Olympics champion (2020) and world championships silver medallist (2023).<\/p>\n

She also entered the Olympics in decent form but had a slow start to her event, placing just 17th in the seedings run before a stunning surge to glory.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, Baff\u2019s partner \u2014 Canadian Eliott Grondin \u2014 won silver in the men\u2019s snowboard cross the day prior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Josie Baff held off a late surge from former champion Eva Adamczykova to win Winter Olympics gold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2620,64,243274,63,689,243275,243272,243271,2057,243276,13038,3738,2105,11329,97751,53230,16652,22886,2328,91117,236743,243277,677,243266,219554,243269,3595,243273,85,243268,243267,243270,31080],"class_list":{"0":"post-478405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-agence-france-presse","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-aussie-gold-rush","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-cross-gold-medal","14":"tag-dale-begg-smith","15":"tag-dave-culbert","16":"tag-europe","17":"tag-final-bump","18":"tag-finish-line","19":"tag-fox-sports","20":"tag-getty-images-inc","21":"tag-gold-medal","22":"tag-gold-medalist","23":"tag-gold-medallist","24":"tag-gold-medals","25":"tag-history-books","26":"tag-italy","27":"tag-j-michael-reaves","28":"tag-josie-baff","29":"tag-michela-moioli","30":"tag-oceania","31":"tag-seedings-run","32":"tag-snowboard-cross","33":"tag-snowboard-women","34":"tag-southern-europe","35":"tag-speed-skating","36":"tag-sports","37":"tag-steven-bradbury","38":"tag-swiss-teenager","39":"tag-wins-women","40":"tag-winter-olympics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}