For elite athletes, missing an Olympic medal by the narrowest of margins is a profound disappointment. The fourth-place finish, while placing them among the world's best, leaves them one step short of the podium and the global recognition it brings.
German snowboarder Annika Morgan experienced this firsthand at the Milano Cortina Games, moving into fourth after New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski Synnott's final run. "It sucks a lot. That's all I can say," Morgan stated. "Someone has to be fourth. And it's me."
French skier Nils Allegre narrowly missed a medal in the super-G, finishing just 0.03 seconds behind the bronze medalist. This mirrored previous close calls in World Cup races. "I'm gutted because my career has often been like this so far: other guys always seem to have the hundredths on their side, and I never do," Allegre lamented.
American bobsledders Frankie del Duca and Joshua Williamson also secured a fourth-place finish, a familiar spot after a similar result at the World Championships. "There's a lot of positives to take from this, but it's really hard as well to be so close, so often," del Duca commented.
British freestyle skier Kirsty Muir faced the sting of fourth place in both slopestyle and big air events. "It's just a bittersweet feeling," Muir said, acknowledging the difficulty of taking pride in the position. "The only ones that get recognised are the ones on the podium."