Parry Sound, Ont., to celebrate hometown Olympic gold medallist Megan Oldham

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This article was published 17/02/2026 (228 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Parry Sound, Ont., is getting ready to celebrate its Olympic medallist Megan Oldham, a skier who won gold at the Milan-Cortina Olympics this week after capturing bronze earlier in the Games.

Mayor Jamie McGarvey said the town is planning an event in honour of Oldham on Feb. 28 at Charles W. Stockey Center for the Performing Arts.

The 24-year-old freestyle skier survived a 75-minute weather delay to win gold in women’s big air in dominant fashion at Livigno Snow Park in Italy on Monday.

Oldham had already earned a bronze in slopestyle, recovering from a crash on her second run to make the podium on Feb. 9.

McGarvey said people in his community are proud of her achievements and were pleased to see her win her second medal at the Winter Olympics.

He said the town is co-ordinating logistics of the celebratory event with Oldham and her family.

“It’s like the community was abuzz when she won bronze, but right now it’s just humming, like, everybody is so pleased, so proud that she did a great performance in the big air,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.

“We’re just so pleased that she was able to achieve what she has achieved and, for a young person her age, so amazing.”

Oldham led the big air competition after the first two runs and was assured of the gold by the time it came to her third run as the final skier.

Her combined score of 180.75 included a first-run effort of 91.75, the best of the night. Chinese star Eileen Gu, who was runner-up in slopestyle, scored 179.00 to take silver ahead of Italy’s Flora Tabanelli at 178.25.

Oldham now has two of Canada’s 12 medals at the Games, including one of its three golds.
 

Parry Sound, a community of approximately 7,000 people two hours north of Toronto, is also the hometown of famed hockey player Bobby Orr.

On the road into town is a large sign welcoming visitors to the “home of Bobby Orr.”

Asked whether the town would consider putting up a similar sign for Oldham, the mayor suggested it’s too soon to say.

“That’s a question, but nobody has talked about that right at the moment,” said McGarvey. “That’s a later conversation.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2026.