Wearing a navy-blue speed suit with a turquoise-green bib and neon-green colored skis, Kevin Bickner had waited four years for the moment Monday night at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

His shaggy haircut and patchy facial hair marked a distant departure from the clean-cut Wauconda kid who started ski jumping at Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove two decades ago.

Bickner picked up speed as he skied down the gate and launched himself from a platform more than 300 feet above where he’d soon land. The wind was just right. A cheering crowd of almost 5,000 at the bottom included his parents, Tom and Maureen.

Everything seemed in place for the 28-year-old, in his third Olympics, to put up a big jump. He’d been performing the best of his career over the past year, while enjoying the sport more than ever.

But ski jumping, especially on the world’s biggest stage, can be unforgiving.

Bickner’s skis smacked the ground at exactly 100 meters, but he finished over a dozen points behind eventual gold medalist Philipp Raimund of Germany and even behind his two American teammates.

He went on to finish 33rd, three spots short of even qualifying for the event’s final round.

“I thought my technique was just okay,” Bickner said. “I’m still trying to figure out these hills. It’s not ideal, but thankfully I’ll have another chance.”

The Wauconda native has been chasing both results and joy on the ski jump ever since emerging onto the international scene eight years ago at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. A wide-eyed, 20-year-old at the time, Bickner earned the best finish on the normal and large hills for an American in nearly two decades.

He enjoyed his debut Olympic experience teamed up with fellow Norge Ski Club alumni Michael Glasder of Cary and Casey Larson of Barrington.

But putting life on hold four years at a time can be exhausting.

Bickner said he burned out during the cycle leading into the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and it showed in his results. Once a promising young hopeful for the future of American ski jumping, Bickner finished 39th of 50 in the large hill and 43rd of 50 in the normal hill.

At age 25, he was at a crossroads. He retired then spent a year shredding, bartending and partying at Park City Mountain Resort in his adopted home state of Utah.

But the ski jump, and Team USA’s coaching staff, kept calling. Still in his physical prime, Bickner eventually answered the call, returning to the sport after agreeing with USA staff that it’d be on a year-by-year basis.

“From Day 1, I was being encouraged to rejoin the team, but I thought there was no way anyone would get me to come back to it,” Bickner said. “But it always bothered me that I went out on a low note.”

“I felt like I was capable of more in this sport,” he added. “I wanted to give it one more shot, but instead of committing to a four-year cycle I would take it one year at a time and stop when I wasn’t enjoying it anymore.”

The formula worked.

Bickner earned his first-ever top 10 on the World Cup circuit in February 2025. He earned another 10th-place World Cup finish two months ago in Poland and entered the Olympics on the best streak of performances during his entire career.

Unlike the jumps from the past two Olympics in Asia, Bickner is very familiar with Predazzo and ski jumps across Europe. Team USA recently inked a partnership with Norway’s national ski jumping team to train together in that country, and Bickner also was part of the previous U.S. regime that trained each year in Slovenia.

One role he’s still adjusting to: being the elder statesman. Glasder retired shortly after PyeongChang, Larsen hung up his skis last year and another 2022 Olympic teammate, McHenry native Patrick Gasienica, died tragically in a motorcycle crash.

Bickner’s teammates in Predazzo, 19-year-old Jason Colby and 20-year-old Tate Frantz, are both debut Olympians.

“I do feel like I’m in a leadership role because I’ve done this so many times and I know what to expect,” Bickner said. “It’s interesting though because I never considered what it’d be like to be the oldest guy. It’s crazy to watch so many guys come and go from the sport.

“Some of the guys I started out with and competed against, the new kids don’t even know who they are,” he added.

Frantz, a Lake Placid native, said Bickner has been a steadying presence for his Olympic jitters.

“Kevin is someone we can ask questions and just rely on to keep things in perspective,” Frantz said. “The fact he’s been here before and knows the ropes helps us stay calm and not get too excited.”

But even for Bickner, the third time around has been unique. Unlike his first Olympics, in which the ski jumpers competed just an hour’s bus ride from the main host city, the Wauconda native and his teammates are essentially isolated this year in Predazzo.

It’s one of four host cities in the most spread out Olympics in history, and a five hour commute to Milan. Teammate Jason Colby said it feels similar to a calendar event on the ski jumping World Cup cycle.

Their opening ceremony, one of four that happened simultaneously across the Olympics from the different competition cities, took place at the bottom of the ski jump — and featured only Nordic sport athletes. There’s no traditional Olympic Village for Bickner and company in Predazzo, and they won’t get to rub shoulders with fellow Olympians from other sports.

Italy is still better than the COVID-influenced Beijing Olympics four years ago, but hardly the classic athlete experience.

“I have a lot of other sports that I enjoy watching during the games, but unfortunately none of them are nearby,” he said. “Definitely an improvement from Beijing though.”

Bickner will compete in Saturday’s large hill competition at 11:45 a.m. Saturday (6:45 p.m. in Italy).

To call his third Olympics a success, he said he’ll need a top-10 finish Saturday in what’s traditionally his strongest of the two ski jumping formats.

“I’d be really happy with that result,” Bickner said. “I’ll need to have some of my best jumps, but it’s definitely doable.”