LIVIGNO, Italy – After his third and final run, U.S. freestyle skier Alex Hall knew he’d be waiting on fate.
But he didn’t wait on the judges. He’d fallen in that last try. Hall knew his only score that counted was his second score, and he also knew that score wouldn’t be enough for him to repeat as Olympic gold medalist in men’s slopestyle.
But the silver? Maybe.
Norway’s Birk Ruud had posted a first-run score of 86.28 that was slightly better than Hall’s second run (85.75), which was slightly better than the 85.15 that New Zealand’s Luca Harrington picked up in the third run to jump into position for the bronze. It was close, delicately balanced.
After Hall, there were six skiers (not counting Ruud) left to go who could change any of that.
At the bottom of the hill, Harrington welcomed Hall into limbo with an embrace. Theirs was a position unique in freestyle skiing, emblematic of the odd coupling of their sport into a medal-driven atmosphere like an Olympics:
These two, basically, had to root for friends and colleagues to fail.
As natural as that sounds to any world-class competition, freestyle skiing isn’t like that. At least, it doesn’t wish to be.
‘It’s like a weird, mixed emotion,” Hall said. ‘You don’t want to celebrate when someone doesn’t land, but in some regard, you are happy that maybe you have a better chance at the podium now. But I think I can speak for everyone: We’re always rooting for each other.’
Hall personifies the spirit of his sport well. Because he’s a cool guy. Laid-back. He’s known as an elite freestyle skier who doesn’t take competition all that seriously. He just likes to ski.
After winning his second Olympic medal (and – spoiler – he did end up winning that second Olympic medal in this Feb. 10 competition in Livigno), Hall shrugged off the buildup by saying, ‘The four years in between (Olympics), it didn’t ever feel like there was a day where I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve really got to go train so I can get this medal. I’ve got to go train so I can beat this person.’ It’s just ‘I’m just going to go ski.’
‘I like skiing.’
In freestyle skiing, athletes like Hall root for ‘progression’ of their sport. They want to see and experience something cool, especially in a setting like the X Games or Olympics.
What they don’t do is root for failure (or God forbid, someone getting hurt attempting these crazy flips and twists on skis) just so they win.
‘That’s so rare in a sport,” said Hall, praising the mentality. ‘That’s what’s so cool about freeskiing. Like, yeah, I’m at the bottom (of the hill), and I’m hanging in there, hopefully going to get a medal. But we’re all still rooting for each other, and we’re so hyped when people do good runs.’
Yes.
This was still the Olympics, though.
Six competitors left to go.
Harrington and Hall kept it light. They chatted, joked, looked at phones and warmly greeted peers arriving at the base of the hill as, one after another, none hoisted the duo out of their places.
Two to go. This guy fell. Hall knew he’d at least have a medal.
One to go. That guy fell, too.
So Hall had a silver, combined with his gold from Beijing, and Harrington teared up to learn that he’d won the bronze in what was ‘probably the most emotional moment of my life,” he said.
‘He started crying. I was so happy for him,’ Hall said of Harrington. ‘Like I was starting to cry. I didn’t even care about my medal, really. I was so stoked for him. It was just a cool moment. Harrington teared up to know he’d be taking home a bronze medal.’
As for Hall? Soon as it ended, he got his congratulations, too, as well as a hug from U.S. teammate Grace Henderson, who was watching and cheering Hall alongside other American skiers.
‘I’ve got a gold. It’s nice to have a silver now, too,’ he said. ‘Like the collection is sweet, you know? … The scoring was so close. It could have gone anyone’s way today, and that’s both the curse and the beauty of freestyle skiing.
‘You get to do exactly what you want, but it is a judged sport.’
Such is life, right?
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social