Nico Porteous, one of two New Zealand athletes to win a Winter Olympic gold medal, will not defend his ski halfpipe title from 2022 at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games as he focuses on other parts of his skiing career.
“I’ve been in competitive skiing since I was 10, and I’m 23 now,” he said. “With that change in time and change in age comes change in opinions. You change as a person. That’s when you’re doing the most growing that you do. For me, that growing involved sort of losing that competitive passion, in a way. The results weren’t feeling the same. It just wasn’t really working for me.”
Porteous plans to stay active in skiing through filming, product development and other competitions outside of the halfpipe, such as Natural Selection.
“I still love skiing, and I want to keep skiing to the best of my abilities and keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the sport,” he said in a press release. “Ultimately, I’m ready for something new. What that looks like I’m not exactly sure, but over the past few seasons I’ve enjoyed filming and producing videos, as well as working on gear and product design.”
In 2018, Porteous took halfpipe bronze in his Olympic debut, becoming at 16 the youngest skier to win an Olympic medal and the youngest New Zealand athlete to win a Winter or Summer Olympic medal.
In 2022, he landed back-to-back double cork 1620s on his first of three runs in the Olympic final. His 93-point score held up to take gold over Americans David Wise and Alex Ferreira, who had gone one-two in 2018.
“One memory that I think will always be in my head about that day was getting down to the bottom and realizing I’d won gold, but then the first person I got to see or talk to or give a hug to was my brother (Miguel), because he was competing in the same final,” Porteous said.
Porteous last competed at a September 2024 World Cup in New Zealand, placing 31st in a competition he knew would be his last.
He also won X Games Aspen titles in 2021 and 2022 and the World Championships in 2021, also in Aspen.
Another man from New Zealand won the world title in ski halfpipe this past March — 18-year-old Finley Melville Ives — ahead of Americans Nick Goepper and Ferreira.
“Just watching him train and ski over the past few years, I’ve watched him grow up from being a young kid, and now he’s riding like he’s been there for years,” Porteous said, while also noting 17-year-old Luke Harrold, the 2024 Youth Olympic gold medalist, as a dark horse come next February.
