At last, Alex Ferreira of the U.S. claimed elusive Olympic gold in men’s freeski halfpipe Friday at the Milan Cortina Games in Italy, throwing down a stellar run with five straight double corks and spins in all four directions, and punctuating the moment with his signature pole swing.
The 31-year-old from Aspen, Colorado, cleaned up a sketchy landing on his first run to post a 90.50 on Run 2, hitting a pair of switch 1080s and a pair of 1620s. Then he raised the bar on Run 3 by upgrading his third hit from a 720 to a 1080 to score 93.75.
Teammate Nick Goepper finished just off the podium in 4th after top qualifier Brendan Mackay of Canada went full send and vaulted into bronze on the contest’s final run with a 91.00. Estonia’s first male Olympic freestyle skier, 19-year-old Henry Sildaru, stunned with a 93.00 for silver.
“Best moment of my life. Easily. Blown out of the water, not even close,” Ferreira said. “An unbelievable amount of hard work, and dedication, and perseverance and belief went into me doing this. It really takes a village. Literally so many people helped me get to where I am today.”
RESULTS
Birk Irving of Winter Park, Colorado, wrote his own story Friday with a 5th-place finish, and Hunter Hess took 10th. Great Britain’s Gus Kenworthy, who won slopestyle silver for the U.S. at the 2014 Sochi Games, finished 6th at age 34 in what could be his last Olympics.
After Olympic silver in 2018 and bronze in 2022, Ferreira forged a first-ever “perfect season” in 2023-24, going seven-for-seven at X Games, Dew Tour and all five World Cups. He then won back-to-back Crystal Globes in 2024 and 2025 and finished 3rd at the past two world championships. Asked in 2025 about his Olympic gold pursuit, he said: “I wholeheartedly believe I will complete it, and it will be the best, most glorious moment of my life. I will cry. Even thinking about it right now is kind of making me tear up.”
Reigning world champion Fin Melville Ives of New Zealand didn’t make the final after crashing twice in qualifying. He was tobogganed off after the second fall, and NBC’s broadcast said that he was conscious and with family, in stable and positive condition.
Melville Ives had hoped to follow in the footsteps of compatriot Nico Porteous, who claimed Olympic halfpipe bronze in 2018 at age 16, then gold at the 2022 Beijing Games before retiring in 2025. His twin brother, Cam Melville Ives, placed 12th in last week’s men’s snowboard halfpipe final.
