On Feb. 13, the Snowboarding Men’s Halfpipe finale of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Sports Olympics took place. Among the competitors was Alessandro Barbieri, a 17-year-old from Portland, Oregon, representing not only his country but his home city in the world’s most important winter sports competition.
Born in 2008, Alessandro Barbieri lives a very different life from his peers. He was raised in Portland and started skiing at age three, then switched to snowboarding at the age of five. The adrenaline on the slopes sparked a passion inside him and he progressed at an unusual speed, becoming one of the best at such a young age.
Going professional at a young age can be challenging. Often, student-athletes struggle to keep up with school and social life while being enrolled in a sport. Accomplishing that much at such a young age “takes a lot of mental and physical commitment,” says Holli Prohaska, a Physical Education teacher at Ida B. Wells High School. “You may be physically able to do it, but if your mind is not in the right place, you’re not gonna be successful,” she says.
It is, with a strong mindset, that Barbieri takes on snowboarding competitions. Rather than feeling overwhelmed, Barbieri seemed to benefit from the pressure, as he told Olympics.com: “The increased attention, I love it honestly. It’s not pressure for me.”
In 2024, Barbieri began his international career by bringing home a silver medal at the Youth Olympic Winter Games Gangwon 2024. That same season, he earned his first World Cup podium by finishing in third place in the Calgary Snow Rodeo in Feb. 2025. Those results announced him as one of the most exciting young athletes headed into the Olympics qualifiers.
In 2025, he made history as the first American and one of the youngest athletes ever to land a triple cork 1440 in halfpipe competition, while competing in the Snow League in China. A triple cork 1440 consists of four complete rotations and three off-axis flips. The road to glory finally brought him to the Winter Olympics, where he performed in the Men’s Halfpipe finale.
The 2026 Olympics are really special to Barbieri as his family comes from Milan. As one of the youngest athletes of Team USA, the pressure on the young snowboarder is rising as he takes on the slopes to hopefully earn a medal.
The Men’s Halfpipe event consists of performing tricks back and forth on a 22-foot-tall U-shaped tube. Each rider gets three runs and receives a score out of 100 based on amplitude, difficulty and variety of tricks. The athlete will keep his highest score out of the three runs.
Unfortunately, after scoring the fourth-best score with an 88.5 on his first run in the qualification round, he fell during his second run, getting a no score. He needed a 92 or higher for his final run to be able to place on the podium. However, after a strong start, he slipped on the landing, resulting in a no score for his final run, earning him tenth place in the competition.
However disappointing those results may be for some people, they show that even strong, talented athletes still have a lot to learn. Falling is part of the process and it is part of growth. “[Snowboarding] is very mental, you just have to remember that if you fall, you have to get back up, sounds corny but it’s real” says Scarlett Barr, a student on the snowboarding team at IBW.
Barbieri sets an example for young athletes and Portlanders that everything is possible if you work for it. Barr says, “I think him being from Portland kinda shows you that if you have dreams, they are possible, and if you dedicate yourself to a sport, that’s what you can get out of it.”
Prohaska agrees with that statement, saying, “It might inspire a lot of students to have bigger goals, things that they can accomplish if they are really willing to, that they can dedicate themselves to a sport if it’s something that they love.”
Ultimately, although he did not succeed in the Olympics, Barbieri set the bar as one of the nation’s next rising champions. He serves as a role model for every young kid from Portland, showing that you can follow your dreams and persevere, even when it gets tough.
