The Michigan Olympian whose age made headlines during the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics had an iconic response after losing the snowboard cross race event on Thursday.
Making his fifth Olympic appearance, 44-year-old Nick Baumgartner is the oldest competing athlete on Team USA so far in the 2025 Games. He made his debut at the 2025 Milan Cortina Olympics on Thursday during the snowboard cross race.
He was eliminated after placing third in the snowboarding cross semifinals Thursday, finishing just .08 seconds behind Austria’s Alessandro Haemmerle, who went on to win the whole event.
“I never had so much fun losing in my life,” Baumgartner told NBC Olympics after the race. “It’s a great time.”
When asked to put the fact that some of his competitors are older than his son, Baumgartner told NBC Olympics “it’s just wild” and it “goes to show the kind of work that I put in to stay here.”
“It takes every bit of me and every bit of effort that I have to be able to compete with these kids — you see how fast they are,” he said. “But I love this so much.”
Baumgartner also put a rest to rumors claiming this would be his last Olympics: “Absolutely not. I always said as long as I’m having fun and I’m competitive, which go together, I’ll continue to do this.”
“Until I’m not having fun or ’til the body steps in and says, ‘you’re done,’ I’m going to continue to put the work in and I’m going to continue to redefine what people think is possible,” he said.
With 14 years on the second oldest snowboarder on the U.S. team, Baumgartner recently told NBC News he is an “elder statesman” in a sport “dominated by youth.”
Baumgartner’s age has not held him back in the past: at 40 years old, he won his first gold medal in the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
“Trying to stay young and pouring concrete do not go together,” he told NBC Olympics. “It would have been very tough had I not won that gold medal to fund this and to keep doing this.”
At least four other Team USA athletes competing at the 2026 Games are over the age of 40.
The only U.S. athlete older than Baumgartner is 54-year-old Minnesota curler Rich Ruohonen, though it remains unclear if he will compete as he is currently an alternate on the team.
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