Aspen’s Ferreira named to U.S. Olympic halfpipe team for Games in Italy
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Aspen’s Alex Ferreira is an Olympian yet again.
In a Tuesday announcement by U.S. Ski and Snowboard, the halfpipe skier was officially named to the country’s 2026 Winter Olympics team, with the Games scheduled for Feb. 6-22 in northern Italy.
This will be the 30-year-old Aspen native’s third time competing at the Olympics: He won silver in his 2018 debut and followed that with bronze in 2022.
“It means the world to be prequalified for the Olympics,” Ferreira said in a news release. “It’s a huge weight off my shoulders. Usually I’m coming in, skidding in, to the very last spot. So, to be the first person on the team is really, really rewarding.”
While Ferreira’s official inclusion on the team is fresh, unofficially it’s been locked up for a few months now. In the first — and, so far, only — U.S. Olympic team qualifier, hosted by Aspen at Buttermilk Ski Area on Feb. 2, Ferreira came through in the clutch for his 11th career World Cup win and effectively secured his roster spot for Italy then and there.
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He’s been the most consistent men’s halfpipe skier on the World Cup the past two seasons, winning the discipline’s Crystal Globe each winter as the season-long champion. He also won the title in 2018.
“I worked extremely hard for it, so I’m grateful to have a more tranquil incoming to the Games. I’m ecstatic,” Ferreira said. “Milano Cortina is going to be a great competition, probably the best competition ever hosted, and definitely the highest level of progression thus far. I’m going to give it my all, and I’m excited to battle it out with everyone.”
Talking with the Aspen Times after the season, Ferreira hinted that he could be headed to the final Olympics of his career, saying making it to the 2030 Games in the French Alps is a long shot at age 34. Legendary halfpipe snowboarder Shaun White was 35 at his final Olympics in 2022.
About the only thing missing from Ferreira’s trophy case is an Olympic gold. He’s a three-time X Games Aspen champion and is fully invested in completing his medal collection at the Games this coming winter.
“I can definitely start to feel the weight on my shoulders,” Ferreira said in April. “I’m still feeling that same pressure. The only thing that feels different is this will most likely be my last one, so I’m giving it everything I got. All in.”
Ferreira is the only halfpipe skier to be officially confirmed for the Olympic team so far, although Indiana’s Nick Goepper, the reigning X Games champ, is a strong candidate to snag the second spot.
The remaining two spots are wide open, with Nevada’s David Wise hoping to make his fourth Olympic team, despite turning 35 later this month. Halfpipe skiing only made its Olympic debut at the 2014 Games in Sochi — halfpipe snowboarding has been around since the 1998 Olympics — with Wise winning that inaugural gold. He followed with his second Olympic title in 2018 before settling for silver in 2022, falling just short to reigning Olympic champion Nico Porteous of New Zealand.
With more U.S. Olympic team qualifiers still remaining, Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley have numerous other halfpipe skiers in contention to possibly make the roster. Cassidy Jarrell, Tristan Feinberg, Kai Morris, and Nick Geiser are all currently on the U.S. freeski team roster ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Basalt’s Hanna Faulhaber is the lone local representative on the women’s side, with the 20-year-old hoping to overcome injury to make her second Olympic team after finishing sixth in 2022.
Also named to the U.S. Olympic team on Tuesday was slopestyle skier Alex Hall out of Park City, Utah. Like Ferreira, Hall has been particularly dominant in recent years, with the 26-year-old now headed to his third Games. He is the reigning Olympic champion in slopestyle skiing.
“I’m super stoked to qualify for Milano Cortina a year early,” Hall said in the news release. “I feel like I had a great season and ended up winning the slopestyle Crystal Globe, so it felt really good to lock in my spot that way. I’m looking forward to the Olympics in Italy; I think it’s going to be sweet. My mom is Italian, so it’s going to feel a bit like a home Olympics for me as well. It will be amazing over there.”
Wyoming’s Jaelin Kauf, who has strong ties to both Steamboat Springs and Vail, was named to the U.S. Olympic moguls team on Tuesday. She is the reigning Olympic silver medalist. Ohio’s Quinn Dehlinger, a two-time world champion, was named to his first Olympic team in aerials.
In an announcement last month, U.S. Ski and Snowboard revealed that Summit County slopestyle snowboarder Red Gerard and California halfpipe snowboarder Chloe Kim have already met their quotas and will be on the 2026 U.S. Olympic team. Kim, only 25, is already the two-time reigning Olympic champion. Gerard won slopestyle gold at his Olympic debut in 2018.
Aspen will once again play a major role in the upcoming winter’s slate of competitions. On top of the return of X Games (Jan. 23-25) and another stop on White’s The Snow League (Feb. 26-28), Buttermilk will host another U.S. Grand Prix and World Cup from Jan. 7-10, with final Olympic team roster spots likely on the line for many.
This story is from AspenTimes.com
