LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — No one could blame doctors for telling 13-year-old Jake Canter he should never set foot on a snowboard again.
No one can blame 22-year-old Jake Canter for ignoring them.
The 22-year-old American rider, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after being kicked in the head in a freak accident on a trampoline at an X Games training camp, won an Olympic bronze medal in the trick-packed slopestyle event nine years later.
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Wednesday’s third-place finish put an exclamation point on one of the Olympics’ only stories. It also exposed a flaw in all those dire diagnoses at the time: Doctors were examining Kanter’s brain when they should have been examining his heart.
“I really just hope I can make 13-year-old me proud in my hospital bed,” Kanter said. “This is for him and for everyone who supports me.”
The accident left Kanter with four fractures to his skull. He ended up in a coma for four days. He lost hearing in his right ear. Six months later, after therapy, some of it on skis, began to help him regain his bearings, Kanter developed an earache. This is the first symptom of meningitis.
Then he was in a coma for another four days. Eventually, he needed surgery, where doctors injected bone cement into his skull and right ear, destroying his balance and forcing him to relearn how to walk and talk.
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But how to ski?
“There are only so many people who believe I can do what I’m doing,” Kanter said. “I wanted to prove every doctor wrong who told me I couldn’t do this. That was a big part of it.”
Kanter’s bronze medal wasn’t earned in the snowboarding or slopestyle skill events.
The 12 riders each ran three times on the track, which was hampered slightly throughout the week by oversized track sections and three jumps that were tightly clustered together, making it harder for athletes to accelerate and perform their biggest stunts.
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So when Kanter faced a desperate bid for a podium finish on his third and final run, it became compelling drama when he threw the only 1980 of the day on his final jump. When he landed, things got better.
He stretched his arms to the sky and took off his goggles. “Let’s go!” he screams, before heading to the ski version of the “Kiss and Cry” area.
The judges took a full three minutes to evaluate the run to see if it was worthy of the podium. The score was up; they agreed it was. Su Yiming of China won the gold medal and Taiga Hasegawa of Japan won the silver medal.
About an hour later, Kanter told the story of the traumatic brain injury and listed a number of other injuries — a compound fracture in his right arm and a broken left hand he suffered while riding in the Olympics.
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Not all of these involve bones and fractures.
He told the story of a skiing friend who committed suicide in 2021. Kanter, who grew up in the mountains of Colorado, has his friend’s birthday tattooed on his left wrist.
“I didn’t have a car at the time, and he would drive 45 minutes and take me to the resort,” Kanter said. “We spent a lot of time traveling together when we were younger. So, this is a special win for him.”
Kanter acknowledged that suffering so much trauma in such a short life has taken an emotional toll. Mental health is a topic that has gained a lot of attention in the Olympic community in recent years, and he’s happy to talk about it. Sometimes, to get away from it all, therapy just involves getting on a surfboard and riding.
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“That’s the freedom it gives you because you’re in control,” Kanter said. “I can express myself a lot through snowboarding. I also feel more like myself when I’m on snowboards.”
On one magical day in Italy, skiing gave him another gift — and maybe some new fans.
“I’m lucky enough to be here and show my skills to the world,” he said. “This is the biggest stage to do that.”
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
