Shortly after the women freeskiers throw down their best tricks on the slopestyle course, the men will continue the excitement at Livigno Snow Park with the men’s slopestyle qualification. 

Thirty skiers will have two chances to execute a cohesive run consisting of three rail and jib features with three kickers. While they may want to save their most daring, innovative tricks for the slopestyle final and big air qualification, they'll want to avoid doing too little and missing the final on Feb. 10. With several athletes reportedly working on new tricks, men’s slopestyle is not an event to be missed.

Here’s what to look out for in the first men’s freeski event of Milan Cortina 2026.

Americans are the heavy hitters in men’s slopestyle, having never missed an Olympic podium since the event’s debut at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Beijing gold medalist Alex Hall is still the podium favorite heading into Milan Cortina 2026, but he’s not sweating it.

"I don't really think about it that way,” Hall said of defending his Olympic title in Livigno. “It's cool I got a medal four years ago, but I'm just here to ride. I'm not really thinking like I've got to defend it. There's nothing really to defend, I'm just going out to ski and have some fun."

Hall has been one of the most consistent slopestyle skiers over the past four years. He was on the podium at three World Cup events last season and placed 3rd at the 2025 World Championships, just behind fellow American Mac Forehand.

Forehand heads into his second Olympics after winning the World Cup event in Aspen last month.

"My first time around, I was definitely really stressed out and wanted to do really well. I was young, and maybe skied a little bit too hard,” Forehand said of his Beijing performance. “This time round…I want to do what I'm capable of and not push it too hard. Play it safe and make it into the final and then go gung-ho in the final and be proud of the run that I really, really like."

He’s joined by newcomers Konnor Ralph and Troy Podmilsak. The huge tricks that make Podmilsak a heavy medal contender in big air could translate to success on the three slopestyle kickers. He was the first skier to land a triple 2160 mute (three off-axis flips while rotating six times).

American Nick Goepper, who won silver in slopestyle at the 2022 Winter Olympics, switched disciplines after Beijing. He’ll be competing in the halfpipe event on Thursday, Feb. 19.

"I switched [disciplines] because I was still living my dream as a 14-year-old kid and didn't want to stop competing. And I love a new challenge,” Goepper said.

Norway’s Birk Ruud is the defending Olympic champion in big air and a definite podium threat after finishing 5th in slopestyle at the last Olympics. Among the stacked field, Ruud managed to pull ahead of Hall and Forehand to claim the 2025 world title.

Beijing bronze medalist Jesper Tjader of Sweden is returning from a knee injury, but is reportedly saving his biggest, most innovative jump for this Games.

Luca Harrington of New Zealand is the big air world champion and is making his Olympic debut off the heels of a 1st-place finish in slopestyle at X Games Aspen in January. He has the chance to build upon New Zealand’s Winter Olympics success after freeskier Nico Porteous and snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott ended the country’s 26-year medal drought by earning two bronzes at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Harrington has a trick up his sleeve to achieve this.

"It's a trick that's never been done, never really been thought of," Harrington said. "It's a really weird trick that goes against everything we've learned in the past.”

He might be keeping everyone on their toes for a few more days. Slopestyle jumps tend to be smaller than big air kickers, so Harrington may not unveil his new trick until the big air qualifying event on Feb. 15.

Watch to see whether skiers bring out their secret tricks during men’s slopestyle qualifying at 8 a.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 7. The contest can be watched live on NBCOlympics.com and Peacock.