Gus Kenworthy Set his Sights on 2026: 'It's This Olympics or Nothing'

Silver Medalist Gus Kenworthy is going for the gold once more, hitting the slopes to train for next year's Winter Olympics, which will be hosted by the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo ("Milano-Cortino").

Kenworthy hopes to compete in the freeskiing competition at next year's games. The Milano-Cortina Olympics will mark the fourth consecutive Winter Olympics for the out champion skiier, who was born in the UK but grew up in Telluride. After winning a silver medal in Sochi in 2014, Kenworthy competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea, "where he was one of the first two openly gay men to compete for Team USA," ESPN noted.

After Pyeongchang, "Kenworthy switched his allegiance to Great Britain and began focusing on halfpipe skiing, as well as an acting career," ESPN added. "At the 2022 Beijing Games, he competed for Team GB and finished eighth in the halfpipe before retiring from professional skiing."

But retirement didn't stick: Kenworthy thought he could end his Olympic career on a higher note.

"My whole goal in China was to land the run I had been training as best as I could, and I didn't do that," the "Drag Race All Stars" guest and "American Horror Story" actor told the sports news outlet. "I had already announced that it was going to be my last contest. I was ready to be done, and I walked away with my head held high.

"But it wasn't what I wanted," Kenworthy added. "It was hard to walk away on a sour note."

Still, the 33-year-old's comeback has not been without challenges. The ESPN profile noted that Kenworthy was concussed before the Beijing games and he also suffered from COVID; both or either might have been the reason he suffered months of "persistent nausea, vertigo and exhaustion."

"We couldn't get to the bottom of it," Kenworthy related, before adding: "It totally tainted my Olympic experience. I was skiing well, and then my training basically stopped."

Another hurdle Kenworthy faces – but hasn't allowed to stop him – is the fact that Team Britain (for which he skiied in 2022) is happy to have him back to try out for the next year's games, but "have absolutely zero budget" to cover his participation. He's paying his own way, at least for the moment, "including travel and hiring a coach, starting with a four-day pro camp in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., last week," ESPN relayed.

"If I qualify for the Games and make it back to the Olympics and land my run, that will feel like success," Kenworthy declared. "That's what I didn't get in Beijing."

The out champion is off to a good start, as shown in a video he posted to his Instagram that shows him mastering the snow with a series of well-executed airborne maneuvers.

"Took 3.5 years off. This is 3.5 days back," Kenworthy captioned the clip

"What do you think? Shall we go for it?!"

Kenworthy isn't the first out Olympic champion to want one more hurrah. Last year saw diver and gold medallist Tom Daley come out of retirement for the Summer Olympics in Paris. Daley was propelled by his son's wish to see him compete at the games. Daley and his teammate Noah Williams took the silver for the men's synchronized 10-meter platform event. Both his sons, as well as his husband, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, were there to witness his triumph.