Canada hadn’t won a medal in the men’s freestyle halfpipe skiing competition since 2014.
That changed on Friday at the Livigno Snow Park in Italy.
Brendan MacKay was sitting off the podium after two flawed first runs. However, he went to the top of the hill as the final skier in the competition.
Despite having a best score of 53.00, the Calgary native authored an insane final run. His perfectly executed halfpipe run resulted in a score of 91.00, winning him a bronze medal.
It was his first-ever medal at the Olympics.
Insane final run from Brendan Mackay ends in a bronze medal! 🥉 pic.twitter.com/JD8Zb3p4CF
— Trevor Beggs (@TrevBeggs) February 20, 2026
Alex Ferreira of the United States won the gold medal, and 19-year-old Henry Sildaru of Estonia went home with silver.
Mackay has been a member of the Canadian national team since 2015. He did win gold once at the World Championships in 2023, but his medal on Friday certainly came as a surprise.
Heading into his final run, he sat in 11th-place overall. His fellow Canadian skier, Andrew Longino, actually had the best posted score among all Canadian skiers, getting a score of 76.50 from the judges during his first run.
But Mackay saved his best for last, knocking American Nicholas Goepper off the podium by two points.
The 28-year-old caught a bit of a break right before his run, as Goeppner looked like he might have topped his score of 89.00 before crashing on his final jump.
That set the stage for Mackay to reach the podium, and he made no mistake, winning Canada’s 17th medal of these Olympics.