American Freeskier Nick Goepper Wins Silver Medal at Winter Olympics 2018
American freeskier Nick Goepper made his country proud last Sunday, Feb. 18, when he took home the Silver Medal during the Winter Olympics, which took place in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
As reported by NBC Olympics News, the 23-year-old extreme sports athlete attained a final score of 93.6 to win the Silver Medal at the Men's Slopestyle event ahead of Alex Beaulieu-Marchand of Canada, by pulling off a triple-cork 1440 move, which was his most impressive attempt out of three.
However, before his last move, Goepper was not even in the running to win any medal due to his score, which made the final attempt even more dramatic as he was able to gracefully put together a flurry of stunts before he finished the event in a "clutch" manner.
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In the interview after receiving the award, Goepper revealed that he had to "dig deep," in order to contend for a medal. He had to see himself executing his moves perfectly in his mind, and this self-motivating technique eventually landed him not just a Bronze, but Silver. Goepper was only bested by Norwegian freeskier Oystein Braaten, who scored 95.0 overall to secure the Gold Medal.
The win by Goepper is not only important in his representation of the United States, but it also makes him the first person in history to hold two medals in the slopestyle event of the Winter Olympics, since he was able to snag a Bronze Medal back in the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia at the age of 19. The win means a lot to Goepper, and stated that he wanted to leave everything on the ice and give his all during his performance.
Furthermore, Goepper expressed his amazement at the fact that he is currently the only person to have two medals in slopestyle during the post-event press conference. He stated that he went into his second Olympics with his eye on a second medal.
