Winter Olympics 2026: Alex Ferreira’s long wait ends in Olympic gold — ‘I am greatness, and this is my moment’

LIVIGNO, Italy — As he reached his late 20s in a sport where the window does not stay open very long, Alex Ferreira had a career epiphany.

He had won a silver medal in his first Olympics, won World Cup and X Games titles, carved out a niche as a content creator as well as a reputation as one of the best halfpipe skiers ever. It wasn’t enough.

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“I think people didn’t look at me as a champion,” he said. “People kind of looked over me. That’s how I felt. Maybe they didn’t, but that’s how I felt. I was sick of people not taking me professionally, so I started treating myself way more professionally.”

After a disappointing bronze by his standards in Beijing four years ago, Ferreira stopped living like the stereotype of a freestyle skier and instead started treating himself like a stock broker. He traded late-night parties for an 8 p.m. curfew. He didn’t miss a day in the gym and began bringing his own food on the road. He reduced his life to skiing, family and close friends, all because he knew there was one thing missing from his résumé and probably only one more chance to get it.

“I feel like I’m the best every single day when I put my shoes on,” he said. “But the gold medal, the Olympic gold medal, does solidify you in the (history) books.”

Friday night, he finally got it.

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With a technical and beautiful final run down the halfpipe — a trio of 1080s, a couple 1620s and an all-you-can-eat buffet of grabs — the 31-year old Ferreira reached the bottom of the halfpipe, whipped his right pole around like a lasso and celebrated as a score of 93.75 came in to put him in first place.

It was the run Ferreira came here to do, and he nailed it. But there were still three more skiers still to go, and in this sport where it all comes down to the judges, there are never any guarantees.

“It was a living nightmare,” Ferreira said. “I hate it. I hated every second of it.”

But 19-year-old Estonian Henry Sildaru came up three quarters of a point short. American legend Nick Goepper, a three-time Olympic medalist in slopestyle, crashed on the rim of the pipe trying to land a massive final trick. And then finally, Canadian Brendan Mackay put down a terrific run that Ferreira was convinced would beat him — only to see the scoreboard flash Mackay in third place.

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Just like that, he was the Olympic champion. Finally.

“It’s way different,” he said. “There’s nothing like gold.”

As they realized he had finally done it, Ferreira’s throng of supporters at least a dozen deep began to celebrate and sob. His friends locked arms and pointed in disbelief as he stepped onto the podium with the medal around his neck. His father Marcelo Ferreira, a former professional soccer player in his home country of Argentina, danced in the snow as they sang, “Ole, Ole, Ole.” They had all been on the journey together, convinced it would one day pay off.

Suddenly, here it was — and it was better than any of them thought it would be.

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“Oh my God, it’s indescribable,” Marcelo said. “Now he has the full cycle. This is the most beautiful closing of a career of a real champion.”

Ferreira draped the American flag and moved toward a monitor, where he watched the reaction of his family at the moment he won gold. That’s when the tears started flowing.

“He wanted to just f***ing go for it,” his sister, Lourdes, said. “Honestly, I think he was the least nervous he’s ever been because he knew what he was going for. He knew what he wanted.”

Ferreira might dispute that last point. Because of the nerves he woke up with, he called everything that happened before the competition “the worst day of my life,” needing to down ibuprofen to get rid of a nasty headache.

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But as he stood at the top of the halfpipe before each run, you could see him repeating something, convincing himself this would finally be the day.

“I kept telling myself, ‘I am greatness, and this is my moment,’” he said. “I can feel it in my bone marrow.”

Ferreira does not deny the pressure he felt to get this done, especially now that he’s in his 30s. In 2023-24, he won all seven events on the Dew Tour. A lot of people — including Ferreira himself — wondered if he peaked too early. Even his mother Colleen would joke with him that it was too bad the Olympics weren’t coming up right away.

“It’s almost unheard of and not really what you want to have two or three years before an Olympics,” said Gus Kenworthy, a longtime competitor of Ferreira’s who represents Great Britain. “It’s the wrong time to peak. But he came out tonight and put it down. He’s got a super technical run and he executed it perfectly. I’m really, really  happy for him.”

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There are a lot of ways the story could have been different Friday. Mackay was maybe one clean landing on his second run away from putting up a score that would have been impossible to beat. If Goepper had landed his final trick in his pursuit of becoming the first freeskier to medal in slopestyle and halfpipe, he probably wins the gold and Ferreira is contemplating whether to push that window open for another four years.

“[Goepper]’s got huge balls — just absolutely unbelievable,” Ferreira said. “For him to go for it in that moment took serious guts. He’s a real man.”

But maybe it all worked out exactly the way it should. After two Olympics of frustration, followed by mild depression, Ferreira put in the work to change his life and the trajectory of his career all to have one moment he couldn’t guarantee would ever come.

It’s one thing to be considered the best who’s never won the biggest prize in your sport. It’s quite another to have one chance every four years to shed that label and have everything you wanted come true.

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“It’s 100 times better than I ever thought it would be,” he said. “It’s the most beautiful moment I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’m so insanely grateful and just goes to show, never give up and always believe in yourself.”