Iron River’s Nick Baumgartner was seventh overall after placing third in a photo finish in the semifinals.

In snowboardcross, four riders race on a course with banks and rolling bumps to see who finishes first. The first two racers advance from each round in bracket fashion to the final.

Grondin looked to be in position to flip the result from Beijing 2022 coming over the final roll. But Haemmerle closed the small gap over the final meters and thrust his board ahead of Grondin’s to successfully defend his title by 0.3 seconds. Fellow Austrian Jakob Dusek took bronze, keeping France’s Aidan Chollet off the podium when all four riders had a shot at victory approaching the finish.

Baumgartner, competing at his fifth Olympics at 44, missed a spot in the finals by .08 seconds, barely behind Haemmerle for third place in their semifinal. Grondin was first in the heat.

United States' Nick Baumgartner (22) celebrates during the men's snowboard cross finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Thursday. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Baumgartner was the lone American to reach the semifinals.

“It was super fun racing those guys,” he told USA Today. “Those are two fastest guys in our sport right now. And to go out there at 44 years old and almost nip them at the line – and the only reason I didn’t was because I made a mistake. Then (Haemmerle) went on to win the Olympics. So had I beaten him, I would have won the Olympics. That’s old man math, and I’m going to stick with that.”

Baumgartner won gold in mixed team snowboard cross at 40 at the 2022 Games in Beijing, making him the oldest snowboarder to earn a medal in Olympic history. The 2026 games are his fifth in a row, though he hadn’t won a medal until he teamed with Lindsey Jacobellis in the mixed cross in 2022.

Baumgartner told USA Today he’s planning to compete in mixed cross in Livigno, albeit with a different partner as Jacobellis is not competing.

Also, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of continuing racing long enough to compete at the 2034 Games in Salt Lake City, when he will be 52.

“The longer I do this, the more people that I can inspire,” he said recently. “If I’m 52 years old in 2034 and I’m still doing this, you have no excuse to go chase your dreams.”

The mixed team finals are scheduled to air at 6:45 a.m. Sunday on USA Network.

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The Daily News contributed.