At last, Alex Ferreira of the U.S. claimed elusive Olympic gold in the 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, Colo., cleaned up a sketchy landing on his first run to post a 90.50 on Run 2, hitting a pair of back-to-back switch 1080s into regular 1620s, then raising the bar on Run 3 by upgrading his third hit from a 720 to a third 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 Henry Sildaru, 19, 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."
Birk Irving of Winter Park, Colo., 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 third 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 Friday morning 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.
Friday's finalists competed in qualifying earlier in the day, just nine hours prior. Only one skier put down a clean run in the first round of the final.
The U.S. has earned at least one medal at every Olympic edition of the event — gold in 2014, gold and silver in 2018, silver and bronze in 2022, and now gold in 2026. David Wise was part of all three previous hauls (back-to-back golds, plus Beijing silver) but did not qualify for these Games.
"I read something the other day in Jim Murphy's book 'Inner Excellence,'" Ferreira said, "and it was talking about how you should love all your competitors because without them, there would be no contest.
"So I've really been trying to embody the camaraderie. Especially this event, just, 'I love you guys. I don't know if we're going to ski again together or what's going to happen in the future, but I'm so grateful to be in the gate with you.'
"I was feeling kind of weird, and it just told me to not focus on the end result, focus on the skiing, on the journey. Love everybody in your path and when you're loving everyone it's hard to have fear."
Ferreira's gold is Team USA's 10th of the Milan Cortina Games, tying the nation's record for most at a Winter Olympics, previously set at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
Men's Freeski Halfpipe Final
🥇 Alex Ferreira, United States (93.75)
🥈 Henry Sildaru, Estonia (93.00)
🥉 Brendan Mackay, Canada (91.00)
4. Nick Goepper, United States (89.00)
5. Birk Irving, United States (88.00)
6. Gus Kenworthy, Great Britain (84.75)
7. Andrew Longino, Canada (76.50)
8. Benjamin Lynch, Ireland (75.00)
9. Ben Harrington, New Zealand (73.75)
10. Hunter Hess, United States (58.75)
11. Dylan Marineau, Canada (22.50)
DNS Lee Seung-Hun, South Korea