Nick Goepper’s brutal fall in the halfpipe final cost him a place on the podium on Friday, February 21.
The 35-year-old American skier was in the bronze medal spot when he began his final run in the men’s halfpipe freestyle skiing event at Milan’s Livigno Snowpark.
Goepper landed everything perfectly until his fifth and final jump, when he didn’t get enough height on his jump and crashed into the edge of the halfpipe.
Following the brutal accident, Goepper provides an injury update to his fans via a post on his Instagram account.
He wrote: “I’m fine.” Goepper said along with a photo of him sitting in a hospital bed.
Goepper, while providing an update on the injury, added: “Massive bruise to the skin and a sprained knee, but otherwise all good. “It’s been a long night in the hospital getting things checked out.
While applauding her fans’ support, she concluded, “Thank you for all the love. We’ll check back in soon.”
After the accident, Goepper walked the rest of the pipe alone, giving the crowd two thumbs up as they roared and he appeared to laugh at his sore back.
The pressure fell on the last skier and Goepper, a three-time Olympic medalist who is in his fourth Winter Games appearance, nearly fell off the podium as his chance at a medal slipped away.
Goepper, a 31-year-old Indiana man who made a splash by wearing jeans in Winter Olympic training, qualified among the top qualifiers for the men’s halfpipe final.
Goepper and Ferreira have been roommates for the past week.
Alex Ferriera, who emerged as the gold medalist in the men’s freestyle skiing event, commented on his teammate.
Ferreira said: “Nick has huge balls.”
“Nick is a fierce competitor. He’s a great teammate. I really thought he was going to get that race. It was very surprising to me that he didn’t,” Ferreira continued.
“But he tried. And in the end he told me, ‘I don’t regret anything.'”
For the uninitiated, Nick Goepper is from Lawrenceburg, Indiana, a small town near Cincinnati that borders Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky.
He previously won eight medals at the X Games and took second place in the Aspen superpipe before these Olympics.
