Luca Harrington from Wānaka has won a bronze medal in men’s slopestyle skiing at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy. The 21-year-old skier placed third after a strong final run, helping New Zealand earn its second medal of the Games.
The event took place on a cloudy, difficult day on the mountain, where visibility was poor and many athletes struggled to complete their runs without falling. Out of 36 runs in total, only eight were completed without crashes.
Harrington didn’t land his first two attempts, but managed to pull off a clean and confident third run. He later said the day hadn’t gone to plan, but he was proud to finish strong when it counted.
Norwegian skier Birk Ruud won the gold medal, even though he injured his face during a fall on a later run. American Alex Hall took the silver, saying the flat light made it hard to see while performing tricks in the air.
One skier, Jesper Tjader from Sweden, amazed the crowd by doing a backflip onto a narrow metal rail.
Earlier in the week, New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott won a silver medal in the Big Air event, making this a proud Olympics for the Kiwi team.
