Dual moguls is always full of surprises, but it wasn't quite the surprise that Makayla Gerken Schofield was banking on at Milano Cortina 2026.
With more drama and intensity than its individual counterpart, the dual event sees two skiers go head-to-head in a tense match-up based on their turns, air and speed, with the winners moving down the brackets until an eventual winner is crowned.
It is therefore not always about who crosses the line first, you've got to air it out as well.
The event was making its Olympic debut at Milano Cortina 2026 and Gerken Schofield exited the competition in the round of 16 after falling to Austria's Avital Carroll, who won World Championship bronze in the event back in 2023.
Gerken Schofield only crossed the line 0.75 seconds back on the Austrian, and looked to have put down a clean run but ended up being outscored 23-12 by the judges.
Despite the score, the 26-year-old was still proud of her performance and noted that it all came down to a second jump that didn't quite line up as she planned.
"I'm happy about my run, the only thing that kind of took me by surprise was that the jumps were kind of sticky, and I didn't go as big as I wanted to," she said.
"I knew I had the speed but I didn't get enough and on the bottom jump I went really small and I was like 'oh no, that's not what I planned'.
"It took me off guard. I was expecting to go much bigger so I kind of have to like judge my rotation to actually make it onto my feet.
"But I mean, 0.75 is pretty close so I don't mind. I'm happy to have put down the run and it's always really thrilling to ski against someone and it does push me to go faster as well."
Gerken Schofield had finished 22nd in her individual event earlier in the week but was back for more action as the sport made its debut in Italy.
Since its official introduction at Alberta 1992, moguls had been restricted to just one individual showing but the new and shiny dual format has brought with it a new wave of excitement.
Each judge has five votes to award between the two athletes with the total scores determining the winner and after being a fan favourite on the World Cup circuit for so long, it's a welcome addition to the Games.
"Dual is a different kind of adrenaline because you want to get down first but at the same time you have to focus on your run as well," added Gerken Schofield.
"You can kind of see the person next to you. I guess it's a lot more adrenaline than in singles but that's what's exciting after all."
With her competition now over, Gerken Schofield's second Olympic Games has come to an end.
But with a next Olympic Games in the French Alps, the very place where she re-located to from Chelmsford when she was six, the skier is not crossing out a possible third Olympics in her future.
"I grew up in France so it would be pretty sick to be able to like do the next Games," she said.
"It's in the back of my mind but for now I'm going to try and relax and see how the end of the season goes and maybe just like go on holiday or something."