The Upper Peninsula snowboarder races his fifth Olympic Games on Thursday, drawing on a career shaped by construction sites, small-town winters and the belief he could still reach the 2034 Games on home soil
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t an age when most Olympic snowboarders have already drifted into coaching, broadcasting or nostalgia, Nick Baumgartner is still doing the hardest thing in his sport: showing up to the start gate believing he can win.
On Thursday at Livigno Snow Park, the 44-year-old American will race the men’s snowboard cross at his fifth Olympic Games – less a farewell tour than another extension of a career that has stubbornly ignored conventional timelines.
Baumgartner does not shy away from conversation about his age. If anything, he leans into it. He has watched himself move from being one of the older riders on the US team to, by some distance, the oldest. He speaks about it with a mix of pride and defiance, often joking that time is the only opponent nobody beats, even if, for now, he feels he is still holding it off.
