Utah's Alex Hall, Nick Goepper lead USA 1-2 punch in men's slopestyle

AT THE GAMES — All Park City's freestyle skier Alex Hall needed was one run Tuesday to win the gold medal in men's slopestyle.

The 23-year-old Alaska native led from the start, opening with a 1620, and finishing with a smooth 900 pretzel rotation en route to a 90.01 on his very first run to cruise to the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

"It was definitely the best Slopestyle run I have ever done, I think," Hall told reporters after his run. "I was really surprised I landed my first run. I've done some parts of the run but definitely not the whole thing altogether, especially with this course as how tough it is, how long the rails are, I was pretty surprised and really stoked."

U.S. teammate and fellow Utah resident Nick Goepper finished second with a score of 86.48. Sweden's Jesper Tjader won bronze with an 85.35. Fellow Park City resident Colby Stevenson, who placed second in Big Air, finished seventh with a top score of 77.41.

Hall, who was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and grew up in Switzerland before calling Park City home during his training with Team Park City United, also spent time at the University of Utah.

Goepper grew up in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, but has most recently called Salt Lake City home since joining Team USA in 2015. The 27-year-old skier first won a bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and added a silver in Pyeongchang four years ago.

Park City's Dawson caps wild Olympic journey with bronze in team pursuit

Earlier Tuesday, Park City native Casey Dawson capped his wild journey to Beijing with a spot on the podium.

The 21-year-old speedskater helped the United States to the bronze medal in the team pursuit, which concluded Tuesday.

Dawson tested positive for COVID-19 three weeks before the Opening Ceremony and thought his Olympic dream was over. But when protocols change that would allow him to compete with four negative tests to travel, the Park City native found a way to make it.

Upon completion of his final test, he boarded a day-long plane from Salt Lake City to Beijing, with stops in Atlanta and Paris, before arriving just 12 hours before his first race — the 1,500 meters, wherein he 28th while racing on a competitor's borrowed skates.

Racing in the B final, Team USA rallied late to knock off the Netherlands by 2.81 seconds to clinch the bronze with Dawson in line behind teammates Ethan Cepuran, Emery Lehman and Joey Mantia.

"From not thinking I would be able to make it to the Olympics to a bronze medal," Dawson wrote on Instagram after the race. "Speechless."

Around the Games

Park City's Jared Shumate and Ben Loomis finished in the top-20 of the nordic combined, individual large hill earlier Tuesday. Fellow Park City resident Taylor Fletcher was 23rd out of 48 competitors, while Utah student Jasper Good placed 34th.

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