ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Americans are on the Olympics freeski slopestyle podium again.
Two-time Olympian Alex Hall won his first medal, using a unique run with difficulty and style to land at the top of the podium. Teammate Nick Goepper took silver, his third Olympic medal, and Sweden's Jesper Tjader won bronze.
Lawrenceburg's Goepper put down a big second run to claim his third Olympic medal.
The U.S. team has had at least one medalist in each of the three times this event has been contested in the Olympics, with a sweep in 2014 and Goepper medaling four years ago.
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Hall jumped out to a big lead after his first run, using long rail slides and unique jumps to take the lead. On the first jump, whose winged takeoffs make tricks more difficult, Hall landed a double cork 1620, flipping 4 ½ times while doing two off-axis flips.
He made unique use of the second jump, a mass of snow that offers five ways to takeoff. Hall entered the jump backward, spun 720, nose buttered off the crest of the jump by planting his skis and launching into another 540.
On his last jump, Hall hit a double cork 1080 but pretzeled it – or basically rewound the spin – 180 degrees before landing.
In 2018, Hall finished 16th in his first Olympics and didn’t even make the final. But the 23-year-old entered these Games primed for success, having won big air and taking bronze in slopestyle at the X Games last month. Hall also took bronze in slopestyle at the world championship last year.
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Goepper, 27, first won bronze as part of U.S. sweep in the event’s debut in Sochi eight years ago. Joss Christensen won gold in that competition, while Gus Kenworthy claimed silver.
Goepper followed up with a silver in Pyeongchang.
In the final here, he took a unique line by using the rail atop the guard shack on the course and then landed back-to-back double cork 1440s on the final two jumps to get in podium position.
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