The Wānaka freeskier wrapped up his maiden Olympics,which started with bronze in slopestyle, with a sixth placing in a highly competitive men’s freeski big air final yesterday.
Commentators called it “undoubtedly the biggest big air competition we have ever seen", with Norwegian Tormod Frostad and American Mac Forehand posting 98.50 and 98.25 respectively in their final jumps.
"It’s usually a time like this where I’ll feel really sad and bummed that I didn’t perform my best," Harrington told Sky Sport.
"But I’m so honoured to be here ... and for putting it all out on the line.
"I’ve had a crazy journey to get here, walked away with one medal, was getting greedy looking for two — but I’m just so honoured to be here, to be part of the New Zealand team and to have got a medal.
"It’s pretty incredible."
Dropping in eighth, Harrington landed a switch right triple double grab with a score of 94 on his first run.
But he crashed his landing on the second run, scoring 25.75 in snowy conditions at Livigno Snow Park.
"I was really proud to put that one down and stomp it," Harrington said of his first trick.
"Unfortunately I couldn’t put down the second trick the way I wanted — that’s how it goes and I’m still proud of my skiing."
Scores are taken from skiers’ best two of three runs — meaning Harrington needed a big score in the final run to jump into medal contention.
He skidded his landing on his right triple 19 on the final run for a score of 66.50, finishing with an overall total of 160.50, well outside podium contention.
Harrington praised coach Hamish McDougall — "he’s one of my best friends; I can’t thank him enough" — for his support.
The Kiwi said it had "taken everything" to get him to his debut Olympics.
He spoke of the sacrifices his parents made investing time and finances to start his career, and of having to finish school online and lose friends as he tried to juggle his budding freeski career.
"We’ve had a lot of sacrifices in life to do this sport.
"With the lows come the highs.
"I’m a 21-year-old who gets to travel the world and do absolutely everything he loves, see the most beautiful places in the world and be here at the Olympics.
"It’s pretty incredible, this whole journey. I’ll never be able to thank everyone enough.
"There’s so many people I need to thank for helping me get to here and for helping me achieve my dreams. I’m very grateful."
Harrington looked forward to supporting his brother, Ben, who drops into the men’s freestyle skiing halfpipe qualifiers tonight alongside Kiwis Luke Harrold, Finley Melville Ives and Gustav Legnavsky.
• Snowboarder Dane Menzies, who was the top qualifier, was in the men’s snowboard slopestyle final overnight and finished 7th.
• Defending champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott also put her women’s snowboard slopestyle title on the line in the final overnight, rescheduled from yesterday morning due to poor weather conditions.
She won her second silver of the Games and now has won five medals at Olympic level, making her making her the world's most decorated Olympic snowboarder and New Zealand's most successful Winter Olympian.
Men’s final: Luca Harrington 160.50, 6th.
10.30pm: Men’s qualifying (Luke Harrold, Fin Melville Ives, Gustav Legnavsky, Ben Harrington)
7.30am (tomorrow): Women’s qualifying (Mischa Thomas)
| 1. Norway | 14 | 8 | 9 | 31 |
| 2. Italy | 9 | 4 | 11 | 24 |
| 3. USA | 6 | 10 | 5 | 21 |
| 4. Netherlands | 6 | 6 | 1 | 13 |
| 5. Germany | 5 | 8 | 7 | 20 |
| 6. Austria | 5 | 8 | 4 | 17 |
| 7. France | 5 | 7 | 4 | 16 |
| 8. Sweden | 5 | 5 | 2 | 12 |
| 9. Switzerland | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| 10. Japan | 4 | 5 | 10 | 19 |
| 21. New Zealand | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
