Gus Kenworthy eyes a fourth Olympics in freeskiing, planning to return to competition next season for the first time since the 2022 Beijing Games, his agent confirmed.
“After taking a step away, I realized I miss skiing and I really want to compete again,” the 33-year-old Kenworthy said, according to ESPN.com. “I didn’t know if I would be able to come back after three-and-a-half years, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to after seven and a half. So, it’s this Olympics or nothing. I’m never going to have this opportunity again.”
Kenworthy was part of a U.S. podium sweep in the Olympic debut of men’s ski slopestyle in 2014, taking silver.
After coming out in 2015, he placed 12th at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.
He then switched representation to Great Britain (he was born in England) for the 2022 Olympics, where he was eighth in the halfpipe in what he said would be his last competition.
Kenworthy dealt with a concussion and COVID-19 in the lead-up to the Beijing Games.
“My whole goal in China was to land the run I had been training as best as I could, and I didn’t do that,” Kenworthy said, according to ESPN. “I had already announced that it was going to be my last contest. I was ready to be done, and I walked away with my head held high. But it wasn’t what I wanted. It was hard to walk away on a sour note.”
Last week, video of Kenworthy taking a ski halfpipe run was posted on his social media.
“Took 3.5 years off. This is 3.5 days back. What do you think? Shall we go for it?! 😏,” the caption read.
The world’s current top men’s halfpipe skiers include Americans Alex Ferreira, a silver and bronze medalist at the last two Olympics, and Nick Goepper, who shared the 2014 Olympic slopestyle podium with Kenworthy.
“I want to medal (in Italy). I don’t know how else to say it,” Kenworthy said, according to ESPN. “I don’t want to say that’s what success looks like because then I’m setting myself up for the possibility of this experience not to feel successful. But that is my dream. If I qualify for the Games and make it back to the Olympics and land my run, that will feel like success. That’s what I didn’t get in Beijing.”
