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 in which 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.
Alexander Hall’s first-run score of 90.01 held up as the winner in the men’s freeski slopestyle. Getty ImagesHall stole the show on a frigid day at the Genting Snow Park, where the temperature was around minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit. The 23-year-old who was born in Alaska, grew up in Switzerland and now lives in Utah had a few did-that-just-happen moments as the seventh competitor to take the course.
He skimmed off the top of a bump and did an impressive trick on one feature — a risky and unorthodox move he’s been working on in practice, but didn’t know if it was going to score well with the judges (it did). That was just a warmup act for his midair spin on the last jump.
Nick Goepper captures the silver medal for the United States. AP“I’m just stoked I did it, my best slopestyle ever — and for the world to see that,” Hall said.
Amid a time of what Hall described as “spin to win” on tricks, he simply took a new approach to reach the top step of the podium. His coach applauded him for the bold decision.
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“To be able to stay true to the roots and incorporate a trick like that in an Olympic run is huge for our sport,” said Skogen Sprang, the head coach of the U.S. freeski slopestyle pro team. “It just shows that you don’t always have to just spin the most or do the … tricks that people think are the hardest. There’s room to be creative and do something new. That’s what we’re all about is creating new stuff and having fun.”
Goepper came the closest to matching Hall’s run with a score of 86.48.
“It wasn’t perfect, so I was surprised that it got that high of a score, but everyone was experiencing the Olympic jitters today,” said the 27-year-old from Indiana. “It was just a matter of putting one down, top to bottom.”
