Freeskier Gus Kenworthy is officially headed to the Winter Olympics after he placed second at the slopestyle qualifier at Mammoth Mountain over the weekend. Kenworthy will join the other members of the U.S. Ski Team heading to South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. He also joins ice skater Adam Rippon as the first pair of openly-gay athletes to represent the U.S. in the same Olympics.
In honor of his qualification, Kenworthy released a commercial for Head & Shoulders on the burden of representing not only the country, but the LBGTQ community as well.
In a statement, Head & Shoulders gave Kenworthy credit for his achievement. "Head & Shoulders celebrates how Kenworthy carries pride in himself, his country, his family and his community, allowing him to achieve greatness as he looks ahead toward Pyeongchang," it said.
Kenworthy skiied in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but he was not yet out when he competed.
"I never got to be proud of what I did in Sochi because I felt so horrible about what I didn't do," he said in an interview with ESPN a year after Sochi.
The commercial suggests that Kenworthy will be racing under two flags once the Olympics begin. The Winter Olympics begin February 9 with the Opening Ceremony.
