Nick Goepper has gold on his mind entering the men’s freeski slopestyle finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The 27-year-old medaled in each of the first two iterations of Olympic freeski slopestyle, collecting bronze at the 2014 Sochi Games before upgrading to silver at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Now, three runs and 11 competitors stand between him and Olympic gold.
Goepper placed third in qualification, trailing Switzerland’s Andri Ragettli and Norway’s Birk Ruud. Ragetti placed seventh in PyeongChang, while Ruud is aiming for his second gold medal in Beijing after winning freeski big air last week.
Two more Americans landed in the top six during qualifying. Alex Hall, the eighth-place finisher in big air, had the fifth-best score in qualifying with a 79.13. Colby Stevenson, the silver medalist in big air, qualified in sixth with a top score of 78.01. Stevenson has dominated slopestyle in the past, winning gold at the X Games in 2020 and world championships in 2021.
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Each competitor will have three runs in the final with only their top score counting toward the final standings.
Action begins at Genting Snow Park at 8:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
