Born and raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Nick Baumgartner grew up in Iron River, once a major mining town. His first foray into snowboarding came when he was only ten. Nick says, “I got this funny-looking plastic snowboard for Christmas, and I took it to the sledding hill behind my house.”
In high school, Nick was a hurdler and an All-American and State Champion wrestler, followed by playing football at Northern Michigan. Then, the allure of snowboarding took over. He was hooked.
After college, for years every summer, Nick went to work pouring concrete, taking on the harsh physical conditions of the construction trade in order to support his professional snowboarding dreams come winter. Unable to afford housing for those months spent training in the mountains, he lived out of a crusty van, parked anywhere he could find a spot.
Finally, he had a shot at his longtime goal. In the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, he took 20th in bordercross, and 25th in 2014 in Socci, Russia. In 2018, he placed fourth in South Korea. Then, back to slinging concrete. But the dream of one more Olympics couldn’t be shaken.
In the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, Nick made a dire mistake that cost him a medal. He was devastated. However, the next day, in the first-ever Olympic mixed team snowboard cross, teammate Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick took the gold medal. Nick was the oldest athlete of the entire 223 member USA team, and the oldest U.S. snowboarder in history.
These days, in addition to still slinging concrete, Nick travels around the country speaking about his remarkable journey.
As for the 2026 Olympics, Nick hopes to compete in his fifth Olympics in Italy. Nick says, “That’s what I’m going to manifest, we’re going to try to do it as long as we can.”
[Fall, 2023: Nick’s book “Gold from Iron: A Humble Beginning, Olympic Dreams, and the Power in Getting Back Up” will be released by Triumph Books.]