Struggling Winter Olympics Minnow Nation Surprises With First Gold Medal

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

"It's Cool Runnings all over again!"

That's the joyful sentiment currently echoing out of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games this week.

It's a fairytale story that brings glory and excitment to a struggling nation not accustomed to winning on the world stage.

This comes as Mikaël Kingsbury ended his Olympic career on the top of the podium, winning the men's dual moguls final on Sunday to snatch Canada's first gold medal.

And after a week of spills, thrills, heartbreak and euphoric victories - the battler nation of Canada has emerged as the Winter Olympics underdog we all wanted to cheer home.

For years Canada has been recognised as more of a novelty inclusion in the Winter Olympics, much like the Caribbean and South Pacific islands that have to recreate ice rinks and ski slopes with concrete carpark and sand dunes.

Despite having a landmass that is 65% snow, this type of Winter Olympics victory is rare for the Northern American nation. With Australia, a country that is 65% covered desert already tripling their gold medal numbers at this year's games.

However, Kingsbury won the big final against Ikuma Horishima of Japan, who took silver, while Matt Graham of Australia rounded out the podium in the bronze-medal position.

It's believed that Hollywood producers are already seeking to secure the rights to Kingsbury's Cinderella Man-style Olympic moment, with Australian Mel Gibson tipped to direct and Australian film star hearthrob Jacob Elordi to play the lead.