Cooper Woods

Woods was born in the coastal town of Pambula Beach, New South Wales. His parents, Katrina Woods and Matt Topalovic, were both members of the national skiing team.^[2] He began skiing at the age of two and tried a variety of sports throughout his childhood such as golf, soccer, surfing and rugby league.^[3] He joined the Perisher Winter Sports Club at 12 years of age.^[4] Woods has been mentored by former Wallabies captain John Eales since 2022 and the pair have worked together on mental resetting processes.^[5]

Woods broke into the World Cup top-10 in moguls on 7 January 2022, finishing ninth in Tremblant, and bested that five days later, by finishing fifth in Deer Valley. He trains out of Perisher Valley, New South Wales.^[6][7]

In the 2022 Winter Olympics, he competed in the Men's Moguls, ultimately finishing in 6th place. At the 2026 Winter Olympics, Woods finished 15th in the initial qualifier, forcing him to race once more in the second qualification round, securing him the 11th position in the first final round.^[8] He would then get the highest round score in finals 1. In finals 2, he achieved a score of 83.71, the same as Mikael Kingsbury, with his higher score in turns ultimately allowing him to claim Australia's 7th Winter Olympics gold medal.^[1][9]