American freeskier Mac Forehand knew he needed to lock in harder than he ever had before.

It was the third and final run of the thrilling men’s freeski big air contest at Milan Cortina 2026 — what teammate Konnor Ralph said was "one of the most insane finals" he’s ever seen.

Forehand had already landed two high-scoring tricks in the heavy snowfall: a switch triple cork 2160 and a nose butter triple cork 1980. Each trick had earned 95 points, giving him an impressive total score of 190 points (out of 200).

It wasn’t enough for a silver medal. With how stacked the field was, Forehand was still in bronze-medal position — only 1.25 points away from Austrian Matej Svancer, who was in 2nd place with 191.25 points.

Forehand had joked with his coaches all week about attempting a 2160 nose butter triple cork. He’d never attempted it before, and he'd only just learned the nose butter 1980 on the second day of big air training.

"It was more of a pipe dream," Forehand said.

But when it came down to the final jump, his coaches told him to "go for it." Forehand was conflicted. He could improve upon his first jump’s score, which might net an extra point or so if he landed a more stylish or cleaner switch triple cork 2160. Or, he could go all in on a trick that had never been done, which could score even higher.

"I knew I could do it. I was terrified, for sure. I didn't want to do it 'cause I didn't really want to get hurt," Forehand said. "But you know, it's the Olympics, it's that moment. … [You] prepare your whole life for moments like these."

Forehand landed the 2160 nose butter triple cork amid a flurry of snowflakes, earning 98.25 points and improving his cumulative score to 193.25. It moved him into gold medal position at the time, but his standing didn’t hold.

Just moments later, Norway’s Tormod Frostad stormed down the 18-story ramp and stomped a nose butter double bio 1620, a trick that only he has landed in competition before (once, last month at X Games Aspen). Though Frostad rotated one-and-a-half times fewer than Forehand, his higher level of technique and style bagged him 98.50 points, boosting him to the top of the podium with a total score of 195.50 points. Forehand was awarded Olympic silver.

"I kind of knew he was gonna win," Forehand said of what he thought when Frostad landed his final jump. "I didn't really care. You know, I wanted a medal. I didn't care what color it was."

Forehand’s outcome in Livigno is a complete 180 from his experience at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where he placed 11th in big air and 20th in slopestyle. Looking back, he said he wasn’t "quite there" in terms of trying to land on the big air podium in Beijing.

That experience was still invaluable. Forehand had been confident all throughout training at these Games, which he said helped him get in the right mindset for the big air contest.

"I’ve had a lot of high-pressure moments in my career with X Games medals, World Cup medals and [putting it down] when it counts," he said. "That’s helped a lot with my progression in this sport."

Forehand enjoys seeing the sport advance with skiers trying harder and more unique grabs rather than more rotations.

"You can really mess around with it and it's freeskiing for a reason," Forehand said. "It's free. We can kind of play around with what we want to do and it's cool to have that."

While he wants to try different grabs to add style and technique to his tricks, he still sees himself trying to push the limits of how far he can spin.

"I've always been the guy that likes to go big. … The feeling of doing a big trick and going big is like no other," Forehand said. "I feel like I can't really get that anywhere else, so I think for my progression, [I’ll] probably keep spinning."

Forehand is part of the American contingent that’s rivaled Norway in most of the Olympic men’s freeski events over the past three Games. Norway and the U.S. have gone 1-2 four times — in slopestyle at PyeongChang 2018, big air at Beijing 2022, and both big air and slopestyle at these Games.

That’s not a coincidence. Forehand thinks the U.S. and Norwegian teams are the best freeski teams.

"No one else is really on the level that we are," Forehand said.

"In 2030, I want to try to go again and hopefully win a gold," Forehand said. "I think I'm going to go and hopefully [give the Norwegians] a run for their money. … But that's a future problem."

For now, Forehand has bigger plans back home.

"I'm going to go lay on my couch for a whole day," Forehand said. "Do nothing, absolutely nothing. Not unpack, just sit on my couch and chill."