'Will never be forgotten': First time Olympic medallists Cooper Woods, Danielle Scott to carry flag for Australia

LIVIGNO: Cooper Woods and Danielle Scott will cap a golden Milano Cortina 2026 for Australia by leading the team at the closing ceremony in Verona after being unveiled as the flagbearers for the nation's most successful team ever.

A larrikin 25-year-old moguls skier whose world has completely changed in the past week, Woods admitted he had been soaking up his new status as an Olympic gold medallist by "giving back to the economy" of Livigno with some hard partying in the picturesque ski resort town.

Aerials silver medallist Scott, meanwhile, accepted the flagbearer honour just hours after pushing Australia desperately close to a seventh medal of the Games in the mixed team aerials, scoring a personal best 120.20 for a flawless back-triple-full to drag the three-skier team into an unlikely final.

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That gave Scott, Abbey Willcox and Reilly Flanagan a huge chance of finishing on the podium, as they fought with USA, China and Switzerland for the three medals.

Alas, Scott was unable to conjure a repeat performance in the final, scoring a 95.30 after Willcox had fluffed her landing to post the second lowest individual score of the final - a 66.86, which condemned Australia to finish fourth due to the fact that Flanagan is one of the few males who does not have a triple in his armoury, significantly lowering his pointscoring ceiling.

While a second aerials medal would have been the icing on the cake for Australia's Milano Cortina 2026 campaign, the effort just to get into the four-team final left chef de mission Alisa Camplin on the verge of tears.

Announcing the flagbearers to Australian media on Saturday, Camplin was generous in her praise of both Woods and Scott as she summed up a Games that has exceeded lofty expectations.

"The team of 2026 will never be forgotten for humbly rewriting the history books," she said.

"They have lift lifted the baseline and set a new standard for what's possible when everyone unites and works together as one."

Watch the Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. Plus, every event live & on demand, every medal in 4K, and exclusive international coverage on Stan Sport.

Camplin admitted that it was difficult to separate Woods and Scott from the other outstanding contributors at Milano Cortina 2026.

Dual moguls gold medallist Jakara Anthony, who is now Australia's sole two-time Olympic Games gold medallist, and Matt Graham, who added a dual moguls bronze medal in Livigno to his single moguls silver medal at Pyeongchang eight years ago, were the two opening ceremony flagbearers, ruling them out to carry the flag in Verona.

Scotty James has previously been a flagbearer in 2018, while snowboard cross gold medallist Josie Baff is just 23 and was likely overlooked due to the fact that she likely has several more Winter Olympics in her future.

"As I said, it's, it's not just the performances that have made this team special, but I think in Danielle and Cooper, we have two athletes that did it their way," Camplin said.

"You know, they got to be themselves and our system allowed them to be who they were, and, their magic shined, and I hope every kid in Australia will see that as they carry our flag into the ceremony."

Both Woods and Scott spoke highly of the honour bestowed upon them, revealing that Camplin had surprised them by staging a photo opportunity then springing the news on them.

"We both got like conned into just getting some photos done on the rings, you know, and then, she surprised us and announced it then, so it was really cool," Scott said

"I said this yesterday, it means more than the medals, all the glory and fame," Woods added, when asked what being a flagbearer meant to him.

"This is like, it's one of the best things you can do in sport is wave that flag for your country, so it's super exciting."

Scott, who is 35 and a four-time Olympian, admitted that she couldn't have wished for a better Games, with the flagbearer honour capping an incredible week.

"Yeah, it's an absolute privilege," she said.

"I think for me personally these Games have just gone the best it could have, and the icing on the cake now is being given this opportunity and to represent such a successful winter team is unbelievable."

The closing ceremony will take place at the historic Verona Arena, starting at 6.30am (AEDT) Monday.