After dropping the top score in the men’s halfpipe final, Alex Ferreira was sweating it out at the finish.
He could only get a bronze medal at worst, but he wanted to hang on to the gold medal position as teammate Nick Goepper, who held bronze position, was set to go down the run.
However, Goepper crashed on his final trick in what looked to be a brutal landing at the top of the pipe.
He was attended to by medics, but he walked off the field on his own power.
Then, Brendan MacKay was the last in Ferreira’s way, but it wasn’t enough to steal away the gold from the Colorado native.
In victory, Ferreira becomes the oldest men’s halfpipe gold medalist at 31 years old.
After MacKay’s score was revealed, he pumped his fist to the crowd and bent down to the snow in disbelief as the crowd went wild for him after the brief wait.
His third and final run was the winner, scoring a 93.75.
Estonia’s Henry Sildaru earned the silver medal (93.00), and MacKay of Canada rounded out the podium for the bronze (91.00).
MacKay’s final run bumped Goepper out of medal contention and the third American in the final, Hunter Hess, finished in 10th.
Coming into Milan, Ferreira felt like he was destined for gold.
“It’s really the best that I’ve ever felt going into a Games before,” he told Olympics.com. “Physically, I’m in the best shape of my life. Emotionally, I’m happy. Mentally, I’m in a great place. Spiritually, all good. So I really think that the third time is the charm here.”
“I wholeheartedly believe that I will win gold 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,” he added.
Ferreira now has all the medals of the men’s freeski halfpipe.
He took home the silver in his Olympic debut in PyeongChang in 2018 before winning the bronze in Beijing in 2022.
