Peak Moments from Day 13 of Olympics
USAT’s Sam Cardona-Norberg break down the EPIC night that Team USA’s women had on the ice on Day 13 of Milano-Cortina Olympics.
Sports Seriously
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’s got huge balls,” Ferreira said after winning gold.
Goepper crashed hard on this final run of the day, getting a DNI (Did Not Improve). The fall looked scary and he landed flat on his back, but Goepper was up and joking about his back hurting minutes later.
“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.
“I think he’s in some serious pain,” said Ferreria, now a three-time medalist like Goepper. “But that is one tough guy. He pushed me. He pushed me really far.”
Goepper is a Hoosier. He hails from Lawrenceburg, Indiana, a small town near Cincinnati and borders Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
He has eight X Games medals and finished second in the superpipe in Aspen in the buildup to these Olympics.
“I think I’m still living my dream as a 14-year-old kid,” Goepper told reporters in Milan in the buildup to these Games. “I am just so grateful and blessed to be able to do that. I love a new challenge.”
While the United States’ men have fallen behind other countries in the halfpipe for snowboarding, they’ve been the strongest in men’s free ski halfpipe since it debuted in Sochi in 2014. Team USA won five of the first nine available medals, with David Wise claiming consecutive golds in 2014 and 2018.
Nicke Goepper crash, injury update
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.
His back slammed against the ledge and skis popped off as he slid down the side. Though he popped up to his knees quickly and started joking about his back as emergency medical staff helped him walk off the halfpipe, he later skipped post-race interviews to get medical attention.
U.S. Ski and Snowboard officials had no official injury update as of late Friday night in Italy.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
