Dublin-born Lynch (23) had to wait a day to open his Winter Olympics account in Milano-Cortina after the men’s freestyle halfpipe event was pushed back 24 hours due to adverse weather conditions.
However, Lynch produced what commentators labelled “the performance of his life” with a second round score of 75.75 to make the final field of 12, which took place this evening.
Ireland’s Benjamin Lynch celebrates after qualifying for the final of the Men’s Freestyle Halfpipe at the Livigno Snow Park, on day 14 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Photo: David Davies/PA Wire
And the Irishman repeated the feat in his third run during the final, having stumbled on his first two, with a score of 75.0 that was enough to secure a hugely creditable eighth place finish.
A score of 93.75 was enough for Alex Ferreira of the USA to take gold, followed by silver for Henry Sildaru of Estonia and bronze for Canada’s Brendan Mackay.
“It feels really cool, especially because eight is my lucky number,” a delighted Lynch said afterwards. “My birthday is September 8, I got eight stitches above my eyebrow here, so eight has always been my lucky number, and the fact that I just got eighth, like, the stars aligned.
“It definitely still feels surreal, but it’s sinking in a little bit. It’s pretty cool, because my last best result was 16th, so I halved that the Olympics, and couldn’t be more happy to be here.
“I just tried really hard to focus on the run, not worry about the result, and I ended up landing it pretty much as good as I possibly could have
“I think before this, I’d only gotten around the 60s in World Cups. It’s hard to get high scores in World Cup levels. It’s the best score I’ve ever gotten and I also got that in qualifiers so I’m just so stoked.”
Lynch, who spent his early years in Rathmines, had earlier said: “I’m feeling unbelievable. I’m so excited. Really, really grateful to be here and to make the finals is a cherry on top for me.
“I’m officially an Olympian and officially a finalist as well, which is just mind-blowing.”
In his first run, the Dublin-born skier finished clean with a score of 57.00, giving him confidence ahead of his second shot.
Athletes got two opportunities to land a score, with the best score from either run counting towards their overall standing.
In his second run, Lynch threw everything at it, knowing that he had to go big to make it to the top 12, and landed a right double cork 12, a trick that he hadn’t previously done in his training runs.
Today was the first time he ever did two doubles in a contest run, and the first time he’s ever landed two doubles in a row. The courage paid off resulting in a personal best score of 75.75, qualifying him for the final in 11th place.
Ireland’s Ben Lynch reacts during the men’s freestyle skiing halfpipe qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy. Photo: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
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“So I did my first run, just like the singles run that I’d planned to do. Landed it perfectly, and I went for the right 12 in my second run,” he said.
“I hadn’t done it in training yet, so it was the first time for me today. I haven’t done that trick since three, four months ago. So to land that in my run was unbelievable and I’m really, really excited to be in finals right now.
“During the run I was thinking about landing my first tricks, not thinking too far ahead to the right 12 because it’s very easy to get distracted.
“So yeah, I visualised it beforehand and then I did my first two tricks, and then it was on, and I did it perfectly. Landed so well, and I’m really, really excited.”
Lynch, who moved from Dublin to Canada at the age of two, has recently been recovering from a knee injury and is the last of Ireland’s four-athlete team to make his debut at these Games.
Lynch learned to ski in Vancouver and began competing at age 12, initially in slopestyle and big air before switching to halfpipe at 19.
He previously spent time on the Canadian development pathway and transferred to represent Ireland in 2024.
Lynch competes on the FIS World Cup circuit and recorded a 23rd-place finish at the Calgary World Cup in January 2025.