Day Fourteen Finals – Team Ireland at Milano Cortina ‘26
History maker Ben Lynch has finished a brilliant eighth place in the Finals of the Men’s Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Livigno tonight, posting an impressive score of 75.00 in the final run of the event. Lynch’s result marks one of the strongest Olympic performances by an Irish winter athlete to date.
The men’s freestyle skiing halfpipe competition saw Alex Ferreira of the United States win gold with a score of 93.75, completing his Olympic medal set after previously winning silver (2018) and bronze (2022). Silver went to Henry Sildaru of Estonia with a best score of 93.00, while Brendan Mackay of Canada claimed bronze with a 91.00 third run.
After the final, Lynch reflected on the significance of the result, and placing so well in the Olympic Final,
“It feels really cool, especially because eight is my lucky number. My birthday is September 8th. I got eight stitches above my eyebrow here, so eight has always been my lucky number and the fact that I just got eight, the stars align.”
“It definitely still feels surreal, but it’s sinking in a little bit. Yeah, it’s pretty cool because my last best result was 16, so I have that at the Olympics and couldn’t be more happy to be here.”
On a stressful evening, which saw the qualifiers and the finals taking place in the one night, due to weather conditions, the pressure was felt across the field of athletes. Many athletes didn’t score highly in their early runs, with Lynch’s third run being his pivotal one, putting him right up the score board,
“The third run, I was really nervous at the top. I felt very prepared, but obviously the nerves were on. My family’s here, everyone was watching, and I hadn’t landed my first two runs. But yeah, just tried really hard to focus on the run, not worry about the result, and I ended up landing it pretty much as good as I possibly could have, and I’m really, really excited.”
“I think before this, I’d only gotten around the sixties in World Cups. It’s hard to get high scores in world level, world Cup level, but yeah, that’s the best score I’ve ever gotten. I also got down qualifier 75, so just so stoked.”
Clearly the Dublin born racer is a big stage performer, and the Olympic Games brought out his best performance,
“The preparation, it was a huge part. I’ve been preparing for this since, I mean technically my whole life, but really heavily since October. I’ve had my eyes on the Olympics and I had a very strict plan to get myself to be prepared, and I think that’s what prepared me so well.
“I think everyone was just really tired from this morning. It’s very rare that they want run qualifications and finals in the same day. So yeah, people were tired. And not just physically, but also mentally. There’s a lot of mental that goes into halfpipe because it’s very dangerous.
“I came in here thinking I was not going to make finals. I was just going to go there, and my goal was to get maybe top 15. The fact that I came out with a final is unbelievable. I’m just so happy that all the hard work has paid off and here I am.
Reacting to learning that he’s the first Team Ireland skier to qualify for an Olympic Final, he said,
“That’s amazing. I can’t believe that’s true. My phone’s been blowing up.”
Tomorrow morning all eyes will be on Thomas Maloney Westgård who competes in the Men’s Cross Country 50km mass start.
Please contact heather@olympicsport.ie for interview requests and for moving images of training, which will be available over the coming weeks.
RESULTS – FRIDAY 20 FEBRUARY:
Freestyle Skiing, Men’s Halfpipe Qualifiers, Ben Lynch 11th with a top score of 75.75 (PB)
Freestyle Skiing, Men’s Halfpipe Finals, Ben Lynch 8th with a top score of 75.
SCHEDULE DAY 15 – SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY (All times are Irish times – Italy is one hour ahead)
10:00 Cross-Country Skiing, Men’s 50km Mass Start, Thomas Maloney Westgård