Team USA's Alex Hall and Nick Goepper earn gold and silver in men's freeski slopestyle at Beijing Olympics
Team USA's Alex Hall and Nick Goepper won gold and silver, respectively, in the men's freeski slopestyle at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Tuesday night.
Hall, 23. had the event's best score with 90.01 after completing an impressive array of moves in his winning run, including a leftside double cork 1620. The Alaska-born skier won his first-ever Olympics medal.
ALEX HALL'S GOLDEN RUN. 🥇@TeamUSA's Alex Hall captured the Olympic gold medal in men's freeski slopestyle on his very first run. #WinterOlympicspic.twitter.com/Pwvrtmk1Te
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 16, 2022
"It definitely was the best slopestyle run I've ever done, mainly because it embodied everything I love about skiing and how I approach skiing and I didn't fade away from that to try and maybe get bigger scores or something," Hall told NBC Olympics. "I just kept it true to myself, and I think that's the most important part about our sport is just doing it for the love."
His teammate Goepper, 27, was a few points behind him with 86.48, giving him his third career Olympic medal.
Hall and Goepper's one-two finish gives Team USA six medals in freestyle skiing.
Sweden's Jesper Tjader took bronze after scoring 85.35. American Colby Stevenson, who won the first-ever medal in the men's big air skiing final, finished seventh.
After a slow start, Team USA now has the third most gold medals and medals overall, as of Wednesday morning. Norway is at the top of the leaderboard and Germany is in second.