U.S. freeskier Alex Hall attempts to claim a pair of medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and NBC and Peacock will be there to capture it all.
The 23-year-old is a podium contender in both big air and slopestyle, fresh off an X Games title in the former event. As a teenager he finished 16th in slopestyle at the 2018 Olympics. Hall said he thinks he was a little too young at the time and has since learned a lot more about how to compete.
Things have only improved for Hall since PyeongChang, with four flagship X Games podiums and a world bronze in slopestyle. He began the U.S. Olympic selection period with a fifth-place finish in slopestyle at the Aspen Grand Prix, then made a podium the following weekend at a World Cup event separate to qualifying in Silvaplana, Switzerland.
His current season has been nothing but impressive. After a sixth-place finish at Big Air Chur in October and failing to qualify for the slopestyle final at the Stubai World Cup, he posted back-to-back runner-up finishes at December's Steamboat Big Air and Dew Tour in slopestyle, then won Mammoth Grand Prix slopestyle and X Games big air.
SEE MORE: Mammoth GP: Hall, Goepper go 1-2 in pivotal slopestyle clash
Hall will face strong talent in both events, notably from his own teammates in slopestyle. If reigning world and X Games champion Andri Ragettli of Switzerland is somehow kept off the podium, which seems highly unlikely given his gold-medal threat status, Americans Nick Goepper and Colby Stevenson could join Hall for a U.S. sweep. Goepper is a two-time Olympic medalist – 2014 bronze and 2018 silver – and four-time X Games winner, while Stevenson is the 2020 X Games victor and 2021 world silver medalist.
In big air, Hall will feel the pressure from teammate and reigning X Games runner-up Mac Forehand, Czech-born Austrian Matej Svancer and Swedes Oliwer Magnusson and Henrik Harlaut. Svancer is the 2021 world junior titlist and winner of two big air World Cup events this season; Magnusson is the reigning world champion; and Henrik is a four-time X Games Aspen gold medalist. Norwegian Birk Ruud, who beat out Hall for slopestyle gold at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics, is also a challenger in both events.
SEE MORE: Meet the Athletes: Alex Hall
A big air victory in the event's Games debut would make Hall its first Olympic champion and earn him his first medal, after which he'd get a chance to double his count in slopestyle. He told NBC Olympics Research in September he prefers slopestyle over big air due to its difficulty, though considers his medal chances in the two events equal. Based on results, big air appears to be his best event. In 2016, he landed the first switch triple cork 1800 in big air, and threw down a competition-first switch double cork 2160 at the 2022 X Games.
Hall was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and grew up in Zurich, Switzerland, where most of his family still lives now. He moved back to the U.S. at 16 to join the U.S. Ski & Snowboard training academy in Park City, Utah, adjacent to his father's hometown of Salt Lake City. Hall speaks both German and Swiss-German, learned while growing up in Zurich, and often serves as team translator when traveling. He lived out of his car for about 70 days in 2020, surfing the California coast all summer.
Sign up to stream every event at the 2022 Winter Olympics LIVE on Peacock. Users can also authenticate via TV Everywhere to stream events in the NBC Sports app or on NBCOlympics.com. See below for full broadcast and streaming details for every event in which Hall is likely to compete. You can also see a full freestyle skiing streaming schedule on NBCOlympics.com.
SEE MORE: How to watch Freestyle Skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics on NBC and Peacock
Date/Time | Event | Network/Stream |
---|---|---|
Mon, 2/7 12:30a |
Men's Big Air Qualifying | USA | Peacock, NBCOlympics.com |
Tue, 2/8 10:00p |
🏅 Men's Big Air Final | NBC | Peacock, NBCOlympics.com |
Sun, 2/13 11:30p |
Men's Slopestyle Qualifying | *USA | Peacock, NBCOlympics.com |
Mon, 2/14 8:30p |
🏅 Men's Slopestyle Final | USA | Peacock, NBCOlympics.com |
*TV broadcast not live; 11:30 p.m. → 1 p.m. (Feb. 14)