Gus Kenworthy’s Final Winter Olympics Run Puts Team GB Halfpipe In Focus
One last run, on his terms
Gus Kenworthy is lining up for what’s expected to be his final Olympic appearance, this time in the men’s ski halfpipe for Team Great Britain at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. He’s scheduled to compete in qualifiers on Thursday, 19 February, with finals on Friday, 20 February.
If that sounds like a neat full-circle moment, it is. Kenworthy’s Olympic story started with a silver medal in Sochi 2014, back when he was still keeping key parts of his life off-camera. Now, his goodbye lap arrives after years of being openly out, visible, and hard to ignore in a sport that has not always made that easy.
It’s worth saying plainly that Kenworthy’s presence in Milan is rare. Outsports notes he is the only openly gay man to compete in three Winter Olympics while publicly out, and he has also competed for two countries while out, representing Team USA in 2018 and Team Great Britain in 2022 and 2026.
He also arrived here the hard way, via a comeback after stepping away from competition. Outsports reports he resumed training with a plan that included spending time in Australia to keep skiing through the northern summer.
What should viewers look for in the halfpipe?
Watch how he manages risk. Halfpipe finals are won by athletes who can stack big amplitude with clean landings, not by those who simply throw the hardest trick and hope. Kenworthy does not need a fairy-tale ending to make this run meaningful. The fact he’s there, still taking hits, still posting scores, is the point.
Team LGBTQ sets the wider context
Kenworthy’s final act also lands in the middle of a bigger shift. Outsports’ Team LGBTQ list for Milano Cortina has reached a record 49 publicly out athletes across the Games. The list includes athletes across multiple sports, and it highlights firsts, including the first publicly out LGBTQIA+ woman to compete in Olympic figure skating, Amber Glenn, and the first publicly identified trans athlete in Winter Olympics history, Swedish moguls skier Elis Lundholm.
That matters because representation at Winter Games has traditionally lagged behind summer sport, especially for out men. Kenworthy’s visibility is not the whole story anymore, but it is still a loud chapter in it
