Nick Goepper was in his final jump of what could have been a gold medal-winning run when he suffered a terrifying crash doing a trick no freeskier has ever landed in competition in the men’s halfpipe.
The run started out strong as Goepper, who sat in bronze medal position at the start of his third and final run, prepared to go big.
It seemed like it was happening and trick after trick Goepper nailed. But in the fifth and final attempt, he landed on the lip and the crowd went silent.
Medics rushed to the scene as Goepper clearly injured his back.
“That would have been maybe the hardest halfpipe trick ever landed in competition,” commentators said as they watched a replay of the frightening moment, noting that Goepper missed “the pop” and come down on the edge of the halfpipe “ready to land.” “No one else in the world capable of doing that or even trying that.”
It would have been a “gold medal run,” they said.
But somehow, Goepper managed to walk down the rest of the pipe on his own, giving the crowd two thumbs up as they roared and he appeared to joke about his back pain.
It all came down to the final skier and Goepper, a three-time Olympic medalist who is in his fourth appearance at the Games, was narrowly knocked off the podium, just missing his shot at a medal.
“Wow,” he was heard saying at the bottom of the hill. “Round five in four years.”
Goepper, a 31-year-old from Indiana who went viral for training in jeans at the Winter Olympics, entered the final for the men’s halfpipe event among the top finishers.
His fall came just hours after another horrifying crash from one of the top competitors in the event, 19-year-old Finley Melville Ives out of New Zealand. Ives was going big for his second run in the qualifications when he landed hard and had to be stretchered out of the halfpipe. The harrowing moment halted the competition for several minutes and left Ives’ teammates in tears as they watched on.
Commentators said Ives was conscious and with his family as the event resumed competition.