We collect cookies to analyze our website traffic and performance; we never collect any personal data. Cookie Policy
Accept
NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • Trending
  • New York
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
  • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Art
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Reading: Olympics Live Updates: U.S. Men’s Hockey Is Out After Loss to Slovakia
Share
Font ResizerAa
NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™
Search
  • Home
  • Trending
  • New York
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
  • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Art
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Follow US
NEW YORK DAWN™ > Blog > Sports > Olympics Live Updates: U.S. Men’s Hockey Is Out After Loss to Slovakia
Olympics Live Updates: U.S. Men’s Hockey Is Out After Loss to Slovakia
Sports

Olympics Live Updates: U.S. Men’s Hockey Is Out After Loss to Slovakia

Last updated: February 16, 2022 11:11 am
Editorial Board Published February 16, 2022
Share
SHARE
16olympics briefing header 05 facebookJumbo
The American skiers Alex Hall, left, and Nick Goepper took gold and silver in slopestyle skiing on Wednesday.Credit…Dylan Martinez/Reuters

Alex Hall let out a whoop when he landed his last trick on the slopestyle course, and that was before the judges awarded him with what would be the winning score. It was, he said later, the best run of his life.

“Oh, I was stoked,” he said. “I couldn’t believe I just landed that.”

Hall was one of three Americans looking to crowd the medal stand at the men’s freestyle skiing slopestyle event, hoping that a European-centric field would not disrupt those plans.

Two of them did it: Hall won gold and Nick Goepper took silver on another sunny, below-zero day at Genting Snow Park. Jesper Tjader of Sweden won bronze.

In a competition where only a skier’s best score counted, Hall set the standard early with a 90.01 score on the first of three runs. Everyone else spent the frigid morning trying to match it, but no one did. Goepper came closest, on his second run, scoring 86.48.

“All right,” he said when the score popped up. “I’ll take it.”

Each of the Americans in the final arrived with high hopes and a stirring story. Goepper, 27, was looking to complete a full rainbow of medals, having won a bronze in 2014 and a silver in 2018. He has battled alcohol abuse and depression, opening up about his struggles after his 2018 performance in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

In an interview last month, Goepper said that he was glad that other Olympians seem increasingly willing to discuss their mental health.

Colby Stevenson, 24, was in a near-fatal car accident in 2016, late at night on a rural road in Idaho. He spent days in a coma, but recovered to return to the global circuit and win major events. At these Olympics, he won a silver medal in big air and was a contender for another medal in slopestyle.

Instead, he finished seventh, unable to cleanly land the run he imagined.

“Gave it everything I had,” he said after his last chance.

The day belonged to Hall. The 23-year-old was born in Alaska but grew up mostly in Switzerland, the son of professors at the University of Zurich. He did not have coaching until he was 16, when he was invited by the U.S. freeski team to train in Utah. For a time, he considered competing for Italy, where his mother is from.

That background, free from the constraints of coaching and youth competitions, imbibed him with a bit of a free spirit.

He was 16th in slopestyle at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, just as his career was taking off. He won a World Cup event that year and the X Games in 2019. He was third at last year’s world championships.

He is tall, well over six feet, but stands out on the slopes mostly for his originality.

“You’ll see him doing a whole bunch of taps and nose butters and creative ways to utilize the course,” U.S. freeski coach Dave Euler said of Hall in December. “He’s a very creative course user.”

The Olympic contest was the final showing for the slopestyle course, a standout venue — but a temporary one, made of snow — designed to look like a section of the nearby Great Wall. Its combination of rails, obstacles and jumps created a plethora of possibilities, but vexed some of the world’s best snowboarders and freeskiers. Hall and Goepper loved it.

“As soon as you standardize this sport, you’re going to kill it,” Goepper said. “So if you can leave the creativity and the artistry up to us, that is going to keep this sport fresh.”

It is why Hall was deemed the worthiest of Olympic champions. He has won big contests with dizzying spins, a ceaseless spin-to-win trend in both freeskiing and snowboarding that worries purists.

But on Wednesday, Hall brought a bag of technical tricks, hoping the judges would reward him for originality rather than rotations.

His last jump was one that he had landed only a couple of times before, even though it is really only a 900-degree rotation — half of what many other tricks are these days. As Hall described it, he spun one way in the air, stopped and spun the other way before landing.

That led to the whoop.

“I’ve always told myself, if I’m not having fun doing it, then there’s really no reason to do it,” Hall said. “So I might as well do what brings me all this joy.”

His smile was concealed by a mask, a hallmark of an Olympics held during a pandemic. But his eyes lit up below his ice-frosted eyebrows. He wore an American flag over his shoulders, and soon, a gold medal around his neck.

— John Branch

You Might Also Like

Yankees’ Ryan Yarbrough thriving with ‘funky’ look, ‘wiffle ball’ stuff as MLB chases velo

Francisco Lindor’s walk-off sac fly caps Mets’ comeback win over White Sox

WINFIELD: Karl-Anthony Cities lit a spark. The Knicks must feed the fireplace

Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau 3 wins shy of 1st NBA Finals look as head coach

Mets Pocket book: Sean Manaea to throw dwell bullpen session, with rehabbing Jose Siri among the many batters

TAGGED:The Washington Mail
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print

Follow US

Find US on Social Medias
FacebookLike
TwitterFollow
YoutubeSubscribe
TelegramFollow
Popular News
Utilizing synthetic intelligence to personalize an infection remedy and handle antimicrobial resistance
Health

Utilizing synthetic intelligence to personalize an infection remedy and handle antimicrobial resistance

Editorial Board November 21, 2024
The New York Times Buys Wordle
Charged-up protesters slam Elon Musk once more at Tesla showroom in Manhattan; 6 arrested
A complete take a look at what occurs within the mind once we’re studying
Oh, Brother: The Not-Quite-Tell-All Books by Presidential Sisters

You Might Also Like

Knicks on newest 20-point comeback win: ‘We came closer together’
Sports

Knicks on newest 20-point comeback win: ‘We came closer together’

May 26, 2025
Knicks Josh Hart liable for Mitchell Robinson beginning nod: ‘I had a hand in that decision’
Sports

Knicks Josh Hart liable for Mitchell Robinson beginning nod: ‘I had a hand in that decision’

May 26, 2025
As soon as a weak point, the Jets offensive line could possibly be a energy in 2025
Sports

As soon as a weak point, the Jets offensive line could possibly be a energy in 2025

May 26, 2025
Brian Cashman identifies Yankees’ potential commerce deadline wants
Sports

Brian Cashman identifies Yankees’ potential commerce deadline wants

May 26, 2025

Categories

  • Health
  • Sports
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
  • World
  • Art

About US

New York Dawn is a proud and integral publication of the Enspirers News Group, embodying the values of journalistic integrity and excellence.
Company
  • About Us
  • Newsroom Policies & Standards
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Careers
  • Media & Community Relations
  • Accessibility Statement
Contact Us
  • Contact Us
  • Contact Customer Care
  • Advertise
  • Licensing & Syndication
  • Request a Correction
  • Contact the Newsroom
  • Send a News Tip
  • Report a Vulnerability
Term of Use
  • Digital Products Terms of Sale
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Settings
  • Submissions & Discussion Policy
  • RSS Terms of Service
  • Ad Choices
© 2024 New York Dawn. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?