Ferreira Flies to Halfpipe Gold, Makes Olympic History

Alex Ferreira lands a 93.75 final run to win Olympic halfpipe gold, completing his medal set in a dramatic freestyle skiing showdown.

sarah

Feb 21, 2026 - 12:58

Ferreira Flies to Halfpipe Gold, Makes Olympic History

US freestyle skier Alex Ferreira completed his Olympic medal winning streak with a gold medal on Friday. He won the men's halfpipe final, a mistake-filled victory.

Ferreira, who already had a silver and a bronze medal, produced a winning score of 93.75 after a brilliant effort in his third and final run of the competition, held under lights in Livigno.

He defeated Henri Sildaru, but the Estonian's silver medal was still his country's first medal at the Milan-Cortina Games.

Canada's Brendan McKay won the bronze medal with a best score of 91.00.

"I'm finally in the history books, at least in my eyes," Ferreira said. "Medal or not, I would be the same person, but it feels good around my neck."

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"They didn't give it to me easily," the 31-year-old Ferreira added. "I had to keep working hard. If they had given me the chance in 2018, who knows if I would be here tonight. It's strange how the world works."

The final, which featured 11 athletes, started off strangely, with Canada's Andrew Longino the only athlete to score a good 76.50 in the first run.

Mistakes continued at the start of the second run, but the atmosphere of the event changed when Ferreira set a new standard with a score of 90.50.

He was quickly overtaken by Sildaru, who scored 92.75.

But Ferreira found an extra gear in his final run and finished well behind the Estonian teenager with a 93.00, forcing him to settle for second place.

Ferreira won halfpipe silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and bronze in Beijing four years later. US skier Hunter Hayes, who was called a "loser" by President Donald Trump because he said he had mixed feelings about representing the United States in the current political climate, finished 10th.

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Speaking after the qualifiers on Friday, Hayes said he was embracing the label and that the uproar had boosted his motivation.

New Zealand's world champion Finley Melville-Ives suffered a serious fall in the qualifiers, eliminating him from the final race.

This was the second major incident in two days in this discipline, following Cassie Sharp's crash during women's halfpipe qualifying.

The New Zealand Olympic team said Melville-Ives was "stable and positive" after the fall.

The halfpipe event carries a high degree of risk as skiers must perform numerous aerial tricks by propelling themselves off the edge of a semi-cylindrical course.

The inside height of the walls is 7.2 meters and athletes fly above the edge of the half-pipe.

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