INDIANAPOLIS — With the Paris Games over, winter athletes are next up. That includes three-time Olympian and Hoosier skier Nick Goepper.
He told 13News he's been busy these last two years.
"I bought 40 acres so I could roller blade and train for the Olympics. I call it 'Roller Blade Ranch,'" Goepper said.
The 30-year-old from Lawrenceburg is transitioning from slopestyle with rails and ramps to the halfpipe. He built a quarterpipe with an airbag in Nevada and believes he has the skills to be competitive in the Milano-Cortina Games in 2026.
"I would say the thing that is going to separate me is unique skills," Goepper said. "The things that I am going to be doing, nobody has ever seen before in the halfpipe, so the creativity will set me apart, but I don't think anybody is putting as much on the line as me."
Goepper says it's an elite sport because there is limited access to training on the massive pipes, which are 22 feet tall and 600 feet long. That's why he built his own quarterpipe.
Goepper said he feels healthy and strong and predicts he will still be competing in the Olympics when Utah hosts the Games in 2034.
In slopestyle, Goepper won silver medals in 2018 and 2022, and a bronze medal in 2014.