Winning an Winter Olympic medal facing forward is already difficult enough. Now try doing it backward. That’s how Japanese freestyle skier Ikuma Horishima eventually won his silver medal in the men’s dual moguls Sunday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. In one of the most viral moments of these Games, the 28-year-old Horishima took on Team USA‘s Nick Page in the 1/8 finals. Page, 23, suffered from too much speed early on and went off course for a brief moment, which ruled him out no matter who crossed first. But while Page got back on track to complete the race, Horishima briefly crashed on his hips before miraculously recovering mid-air to finish before the American. But he didn’t recover facing forward en route to a stunning backward finish. “Oh my god,” NBC commentator Hannah Kearney, who won gold in moguls in 2010, said in the immediate aftermath. In dual moguls, athletes are judged by turns, air and speed with 35 points on the line and no individual scores. Horishima claimed all 35 points thanks to Page’s disqualification. “The course was icy, and the rhythm of the bumps was not consistent,” Horishima later said of his run. “Usually, when I feel good, the rhythm is very consistent, and it’s easy for me to go faster. But when here, sometimes it’s a bigger bump and then a smaller bump. It’s hard to remember every bump. My confidence level was low.” MORE MILAN OLYMPICS COVERAGE 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics Jan 28 Freestyle skiing at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics Feb 2 How Mac Forehand's first freeski coach convinced him to switch sports 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics Feb 10 Team USA's Alex Hall earns silver in men's freeski slopestyle Horishima eventually went on to beat Team USA’s Dylan Walczyk 26-9 in the quarterfinals and Australia’s Matt Graham 21-14 in the semifinals. He lost 30-5 to Canada’s Michael Kingsbury in the big final, which was still good enough to settle for silver. He claimed bronze in individual moguls earlier in the Games, and also has a bronze to his name from the 2022 Beijing moguls event. But this silver may not have been possible without his special…finish hsinif. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less