Judges had their work cut out for them and fans witnessed history Sunday night as freeskiers showcased an astonishing level of collective progression in the qualifying round of men's big air at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics in Italy.
Mac Forehand of the U.S. led the charge, combining a switch left triple cork 1980 (93.25) with a left nose-butter triple cork 1620 (89.75) to place 1st with 183.00. He'll drop in last in Tuesday's final.
Forehand's U.S. teammates Troy Podmilsak and Konnor Ralph barely made the 12-skier cut in 10th (174.00) and 12th (171.75), despite putting down incredible combos of their own.
Austria's Matej Svancer posted the second-best score of 182.25, followed by Norwegians Birk Ruud and Tormod Frostad in 3rd (181.00) and 4th (180.25). Ruud, who won gold is slopestyle last week and is defending champion in big air, opted to skip his final run.
"It was a really good qualifier," Ruud said. "I expect [the final] to be a tough battle. In the top section there's going to be a lot of big tricks. The plan is to just try to enjoy it, put down my best tricks. That's all I can do."
Luca Harrington of New Zealand, winner of last month's Winter X Games, was 5th (179.75).
"It's been a crazy event," Harrington said. "The tricks that have been put down are spectacular. These are massive, massive tricks. A lot of these guys have pulled out new, bigger tricks, just even for the qualis. I think we're going to have an exciting show for the finals coming up."
French skiers Matias Roche and Timothe Sivignon seemingly came out of nowhere to place 6th (178.50) and 7th (178.00). Their best World Cup rankings are a respective 8th this season and 6th in 2025, and only Sivignon has made a World Cup podium (2nd at Klagenfurt in 2025 and Copper in 2022).
Eleven skiers received at least one individual jump score of 90-plus. Svancer and Ruud had two 90-plus scores apiece, while Frostad collected the judges' highest unique trick total of a 96.25 on his right nose butter double bio 1440.
Forehand said he learned the trick he landed on his second run — a nose-butter triple cork 1620 — for the first time three or four days ago. A second trick he learned — a nose-butter triple cork 1980 — he plans to do in the final.
“[The final is] going to be one of the best finals ever on skis," Forehand said. "If it's good weather like this, it'll be insane. People have been skiing so good.”
The men's freeski final is scheduled to take place Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 1:30 p.m. ET. You can watch it live on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.