Jake Canter had a 20% chance to live — he just won an Olympic medal for Team USA snowboarding

Ten years ago, Jake Canter nearly died.

On Wednesday, he won an Olympic medal representing Team USA in the snowboard slopestyle.

There won't be many better stories at the 2026 Winter Olympics than that.

“I really just hope I made 13-year-old me lying in that hospital bed proud,” Canter told reporters after the slopestyle competition, via the AP. “This is for him, and everyone who supported me.”

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Canter's story, shared in his Team USA bio, is remarkable.

In 2016, when he was just 13, he was practicing on a trampoline, and a mishap led to a "severe head injury that nearly claimed his life."

He was put into a medically induced coma with a fractured skull and a brain bleed, and doctors gave him just a 20% chance of living.

Canter recovered, although the injury left him permanently deaf in his right ear.

It didn't impact his balance, though, and so he continued his snowboard career.

This is his first Olympics, and he started the competition in the Big Air event, in which he placed just 15th.

But on Wednesday, in the slopestyle, Canter won a bronze medal by finishing in third place.

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Canter, 22 now, wasn't in a medal position before his third and final run. He had to go for it.

And he landed the day's only 1980-degree spin on his last jump. Clutch to an incredible degree.

“I’m so lucky to be standing up here, and I’m showcasing my skills to the world,” he said. “And this is the biggest stage to do it.”

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