Apparently, skiing backwards is becoming a new fad these days.
The 2026 Olympics have been wild so far, and Japan’s Ikuma Horishima’s insane finish to the downhill dual moguls event was just the next on the list, the New York Post reports.
In the second half of Horishima’s race on Sunday, he lost his balance after flipping over the final hill. Horishima fell but got right back up — only he was facing the wrong way.
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Miraculously, though, he managed to stay upright for the rest of the race, finishing just in front of the United States’ Nick Page, who was ruled out of bounds anyway.
Even NBC’s announcers were in shock.
“Oh my goodness, what is going on? I can’t believe my eyes. Ikuma Horishima coming across the line backwards,” commentator Trace Worthington exclaimed.
Horishima was rewarded with a silver medal for his efforts, finishing behind Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury and ahead of Australia’s Matt Graham.
It also marked his second podium finish after claiming bronze in the men’s moguls, where he placed behind Australia’s Cooper Woods and Kingsbury again.
Horishima, 28, made his Olympic debut in Beijing in 2022 but failed to collect a medal in China.
Japan has been relatively successful at the 2026 Games, with 17 medals thus far, tied for third behind Norway and Italy.
Skier storms off course into the snow | 00:52
However, it ranks 10th in golds with just three, a category the Norwegians also lead with 12.
Another story from the 2026 Winter Olympics is that Australia’s success has completely baffled some sports fans from the Northern Hemisphere. They can’t quite comprehend how the sunburnt country is winning medals on the snow.
After a week of success in Italy, Australia sits 11th on the medal tally with three golds, a silver and a bronze. That is equal to Great Britain (three golds) and ahead of Olympic powerhouses like Canada (2 gold, 11 total medals), Finland (0 gold, three bronze) and China (0 gold, five total medals).
It took until the ninth day of competition for Canada to claim its first gold medal. The North American nation, with some of the world’s most iconic ski slopes, is still behind Australia on the medal tally.
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and has been reproduced with permission.
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