Milano Cortina medalist Henry Sildaru: Hopefully several more Olympic Games lie ahead
Estonia's Olympic medal-winning freestyle skier Henry Sildaru says he hopes to have several more Games ahead of him in the coming years.
The athlete and his father and coach Tõnis have already set their sights on the 2030 Winter Olympics, taking place on the other side of the Franco-Italian border, in the French Alps.
Even then, Sildaru, at just 19, has a longer perspective than that. "Definitely not only the next one — hopefully it will be possible to compete in an Olympics after that as well," Sildaru told Vikerraadio Wednesday.
Despite the silver, which was in the bag late on Friday, there is little respite for Sildaru, who attended a triumphant welcoming ceremony in Tallinn on Sunday afternoon, good timing for Independence Day two days later.
"The plan is still to continue. You do sport because you enjoy it, and I enjoy doing it," he replied. "We fly out again on Sunday, to the Alps. On Monday we'll be back on the mountain," he said. "Our discipline is constantly evolving — everyone is trying to figure out the next step where they can do better."
Both the Olympic silver medal and the state decoration President Alar Karis bestowed on Sildaru are currently on the table at home, he added. "People have asked whether I've found a place for them, but the answer is no, not yet. I haven't had time to deal with that. The decoration also came as a surprise — I couldn't have imagined that such a chance even existed," he went on.
The last few days have been particularly hectic, he noted, but the support from the Estonian people is highly meaningful.
Up to the Milano Cortina games, Sildaru had been somewhat in the shadow of his older sister, Kelly, who broke out onto the burgeoning freestyle skiing scene over a decade ago, at the age of 13. Kelly then won bronze at the last Winter Games in Beijing in 2022 when, like her brother four years later, she was the sole medal winner from Estonia. Henry, meanwhile, had narrowly failed to qualify in the two other freestyle events, the slopestyle and the Big Air, even as he was the first male skier to compete in all three disciplines. This left Friday's halfpipe, and practically the last chance for Estonia to get a medal at the Milano Cortina games. Sildaru took it – after a poor first run he was even in the lead after attempt two, and stayed in second place with 93.00 points after his third and final run, after being overtaken by U.S. star Alex Ferreira, who took gold.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
