Ireland's Ben Lynch finished in a hugely creditable eighth place in the men's halfpipe final at the Winter Olympics.
The 23-year-old, who spent the build-up to the Games recovering from a knee injury, had three runs in the final with only the best one counting.
Making his Olympic debut, Lynch had already secured his place in the history books by becoming the first Irish skier to qualify for a final, thanks to an impressive display in the first session.
Needing to finish inside the top 12 to secure his place in the final, Lynch had a nervous wait but his second run score of 75.75 saw him finish 11th and book his spot in the final.
With the freedom of having three runs, competitors were able to take more risk and attack the half-pipe in the opening two runs.
Lynch accepted that invitation and went off aggressively in his opening two runs. However stumbles in both left him with scores of 39.75 and 44.25, meaning he was ninth of the 11 starting finalists going into his final run.
Dublin-born Lynch, who moved to Vancouver when he was two, had no room for error with his final run and while it may have been less ambitious than his first two attempts, there were no falls or stumbles and he raised his arms in celebration as he crossed the finish line.
His score of 75.00 left him in seventh place and while Canada's Mackay eventually moved him down to eighth, Lynch's status as the eighth best halfpipe skier at the Olympics is a major achievement.
A great final run from Ben Lynch, bringing him up to seventh for now with a score of 75.00
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 20, 2026
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Speaking afterwards, Lynch was delighted with his performance and believed that his eighth placed finish may have been fate.
"It feels really cool, especially because eight is my lucky number. 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 at 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."
Alex Ferreira of the United States won gold, Estonia's Henry Sildaru claimed silver, while Brendan Mackay of Canada took the bronze medal.
Ferriera took the top podium spot with a near-perfect third and final run, which earned 93.75 out of 100.
