ZHANGJIAKOU, China—Alex Hall’s final trick was called “the pretzel.” His stomach knotted up just thinking about whether to attempt it.
He did—because it’s the Olympics, after all—and by putting his personal spin on the slopestyle course Wednesday, he skied away with a gold medal.
The freestyler led a 1-2 American with a trick on his first run where he stopped his rotation midair and turned in the other direction before softly landing.
Hall’s opening performance drew a score of 90.01, which no one could match in three runs. His teammate Nick Goepper turned in a creative run on his second pass to earn silver. Jesper Tjader of Sweden took home bronze.
“I wasn’t sure if I could land it,” Hall said. “I was just kind of going for it, and going all in. It worked out. I’m so hyped.”
The American men have captured six of nine Olympic medals since the event made its debut in 2014. Goepper has three of them, including a silver from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and bronze from the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
“So proud of the boys and so proud of how they skied,” said Skogen Sprang, the head coach of the U.S. freeski slopestyle pro team. “They’ve put in a ton of work and they stayed true to the way they want to ski and that’s what we’re all about in this sport. ... Landing it when it counts is huge.”
