Nick Goepper, a 31-year-old freestyle skier, crashed hard on his final run in the halfpipe final, narrowly missing the podium at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Goepper, who switched from freeski slopestyle to halfpipe after the last Olympics, was in fourth place with a score of 89, just behind Canada’s Brendan Mackay, who took the bronze medal with a score of 91.
LIVIGNO, Italy — Some of this, surely, has felt similar for freestyle skier Nick Goepper. He has been to an Olympics before, this being his fourth. He has even won a medal before. Three of them, in fact.
The difference for him in 2026, though, is a major one: He was in a brand new event. After the last Olympics, Goepper retired for about 10 months before returning and switching from his specialty, freeski slopestyle, to the halfpipe. Before long, he was one of the world’s best in the halfpipe, too.
And on Feb. 20, the 31-year-old Goepper nearly pulled off the rare Olympic feat of winning a medal after turning his career over to a different event. He was one skier away from being named the event’s bronze medalist, but Canada’s Brendan Mackay pulled out his best run of the night and snatched it away with a score of 91, leaving Goepper in fourth place with 89.
USA teammate Alex Ferreira won the event with 93.75.
“Nick is a ferocious competitor. He’s a great teammate. I really thought he was gonna land that run. It was super surprising to me that he didn’t,” Ferreira said. “But he went for it. And he said to me at the end, ‘I regret nothing.’”
In Ferreira’s mind, that is the mark of a true competitor. The two were roommates this past week and had an “awesome time,” he said.
During Goepper’s final run, sitting in third place, he crashed down hard on the lip of the halfpipe. It was on his final attempt, a switch double misty, which had never before been done in competition, according to the NBC broadcast.
U.S. Ski and Snowboard officials had no official injury update as of late Friday night in Italy, as reported by USA TODAY.
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