Team USA skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle has followed in his mother's footsteps.
The speed skier shot to second place in Monday night's super-G, winning himself a silver medal almost exactly 50 years after his mom took home gold at the 1972 Winter Olympics.
Cochran-Siegle's rapid run down the slopes took him just 1.19.98 - a mere four-hundredths of a second behind Austria's Matthias Mayer, who became the first Olympian ever to win an Alpine skiing gold at three consecutive games.
Few people expected 29-year-old Cochran-Siegle to get a podium finish.
Just over a year ago, the Vermont native broke his neck in a downhill race and was rushed into intensive surgery to have his vertebrae fused.
Speaking on the telecast, Cochran-Siegle reflected on his momentous recovery, New York Post reports.
"I think 365 days ago, I was walking out of a bed from neck surgery, so it’s special," he said, adding: "As an athlete, you’re always charging and always trying to get better and use it as fuel and just never giving up on yourself."
Wednesday marks exactly one year since Cochran-Siegle's life-saving neck surgery. Meanwhile, it's not the only special day this week for the downhill skiers' family.
This Friday is the 50 year anniversary of when his mom - skier Barbara Cochran - won gold in the slalom at the 1972 Sapporo games.
Speaking to CBS, Cochran recalled the moment she watched her son go for the medal from her Vermont home.
"I felt pretty calm until a few people before him. Then I got those butterflies and started getting pretty nervous. I was yelling as he was going down, 'Go, Ryan! Go, Ryan!' I was loud. I woke my daughter up," she said.
In another interview on NBC Primetime, the proud mom said that, despite her nerves, she had always believed in her son.
"I totally believed in him. I knew that he was capable of doing it," Cochran said, adding: "You never know on a particular day whether or not it’s going to happen. I’m just so proud."
