At an age when most Olympic snowboarders have already drifted into coaching, broadcasting or nostalgia, Nick Baumgartner is still doing the hardest thing in his sport: showing up to the start gate believing he can win.
On Thursday at Livigno Snow Park, the 44-year-old American will race the men’s snowboard cross at his fifth Olympic Games – less a farewell tour than another extension of a career that has stubbornly ignored conventional timelines.
