As he said himself it was as if the stars aligned under the Friday night lights in Livigno when Ben Lynch became the first Irish skier ever to make an Olympic final (Halfpipe) taking 8th place overall; his lucky number!
Overcoming the natural nerves of his first Olympic run (which Lynch landed safely), meant he could ‘go for it’ in his second and final run in an attempt to make the final, and go for it he did! With only the top 12 of the 25 starters making the final Lynch was lying 14th overall heading into his second and final run in the 22foot high Olympic halfpipe. Landing the now infamous ‘right dub (double) 12’ trick saw him record his highest ever score in competition of 75.75 to qualify for the Olympic final in 11th place.
Remarkably Lynch had never done that trick in competition before and hadn’t trained it since October but executed it perfectly when it mattered most to realise his childhood dream of skiing in an Olympic final.
‘I had a run planned out that I knew I could land in two runs but if I landed it in the first run I would go for the bigger trick in the second one. I was just happy to land it in my run, the fact that I landed it clean was insane, and the fact too that it was at the Olympics and everyone was watching, the biggest stage, there was a lot of excitement at the bottom when I landed that!’
Lynch emphasised what he felt was integral to delivering his best ever performance on the biggest stage of them all.
‘Preparation was everything. The nerves go away if you know that you’re prepared for the event. I definitely felt very prepared, I had some of the best trainings of my life prior to the competition -I landed my run like multiple times. It gave me great confidence. We got three days training in the pipe – I only did two of them. I played it really smart. I took the second day of training fully off to allow my knee to heal which I’m definitely glad I did. I was so happy I was able to push through all of the training and competition.’
Lynch spoke in the lead in to Milano-Cortina of that knee injury he suffered in October when competing in New Zealand that led to him missing some World Cups in favour of rehab in order to be ready for the Games. He had special mention for the ‘amazing support’ from the Irish team in the lead up to and throughout the Games, particularly physiotherapist Ciara McCallion who managed his strength and conditioning programme to get him to the start line in such good shape.
With the final taking place on the same day it was actually the time between the qualification and the final that Lynch found the most challenging.
‘It was really hard (to come down from the high of qualification before the final), because there was all this excitement at the bottom, people taking photos, interviews and all that. Then I had to get all my skis back to the waxing room because I actually broke my binding in training so I had to get that fixed, and then it was back to the hotel room. We only had like two hours to reset for finals and it’s one of the biggest events of my life so it was difficult to try and calm down. I tried to take a nap but I couldn’t do it. It was high adrenalin, my heart was beating trying to just totally relax after what had happened. I took an ice bath – that really helped, to just settle my legs down and then I was straight back to it!’
Remarkably making the night time final was actually the first time Lynch had ever made a final at that level. His previous best ever finish was a 16th place.
‘I never made a finals before, it was my first ever finals so to do that at Olympics was a great achievement.’
The 23 year-old recalled it from his perspective.
‘With it being night time everything got colder, the snow was faster, it was a lot more scary. I was tired, I knew in the back of my mind my legs were going to be a little bit more sore so it was a lot more scary going in to the final. It was very hard packed ice snow, we were going big, it was a lot faster so we were going super big.
Night is actually the best time to compete because you can see everything very well with the lights, the visibility is perfect with the lights, there’s no shadows. Sometimes during the day the sun will be in an awkward position and there will be a lot of shade which is tricky. When the lights are on, everything is lit, you can see every bit of snow and I like that about it but there was a huge crowd, and they were loud! You could hear them from the top, everyone was yelling, even from the side of the halfpipe, on the deck where everyone was standing.’
With his parents, family and friends, and that enormous raucous crowd gathered at the bottom of the halfpipe Lynch brilliantly landed his final run to score 75.0 and take that incredible 8th place. He spoke of just how much his Olympic performance has fuelled his belief in himself.
‘It gave me a lot of confidence, not even just in skiing, in other areas of my life too. I want to go for it because I think this has shown me personally that I can achieve anything I really set my mind to.’
After a short break home at in Vancouver Lynch plans to move to Calgary in mid-March where his coach Rex Thomas is based, and crucially where the only halfpipe in Canada is located. His plan is to transfer in a University there to continue his studies in Business Administration and get a job to help support his skiing. Helpfully his coach owns a Trampoline facility in Calgary where he plans to train throughout the Summer, while also giving his knee some time to fully recover.
As the sole Irish male halfpipe skier, currently, Lynch will have a slot in each of the FIS World Cups next season, which he is very much looking forward to. Some training camps in Austria are also in the pipeline ahead of the World Championships there in 2027.
Whatever lies ahead for this talented athlete, one thing shines through after time spent in conversation with him; the pure enjoyment he derives from his unique sport, and how it is central to everything he is doing to further his name within it. Exciting times ahead for Big Ben!