Tormod Frostad of Norway won a sensational, video game-like freeski big air final Tuesday night in Italy, emerging from a Livigno snow globe with Olympic gold, while Mac Forehand of the U.S. stomped two bangers for silver at the Milan Cortina Games. Austrian Matej Svancer took bronze.
Carrying on where teammate Birk Ruud left off in 2022, Frostad threw down two monster tricks: He scored a 97.00 for a switch right double bio 1620 with enough tail butter to supply a creamery, then a 98.50 for a final-run right nose butter double bio 1620 to seal the victory with 195.50 points total.
"[Rudd]'s been a pioneer in the sport … Now today I get to show some of the tricks I've come up with," Frostad said. "The level [of competition] was just insane. It feels crazy. The level was extremely high, and I'm beyond happy to showcase my skiing."
Forehand nailed a pair of triple cork 2160s — one switch (95.00) and one regular with nose butter (98.25) — for 193.25 points and briefly jumped into 1st place, one point clear of Frostad with only the Norwegian left to drop. But Frostad answered in the clutch, retaking the lead, and the gold.
"I knew I had to one-up one of the tricks and I deliberated with my coaches for like five minutes at the top about what I should do," Forehand said. "The level of tricks I've been doing tonight were insane. … The top five guys all landed insane tricks that would win any other contest day."
While Forehand's tricks featured more rotation, Frostad's edge came in his technicality: nose-butter takeoffs, high-difficulty grabs and unique, sideway rotations that force blind landings — the kind of details judges heavily reward.
"Style is everything, in my opinion," Frostad said. "That's our only way to differentiate each other. … You can't really teach someone about style. That's a whole process of finding yourself and going into different realms of using your inspiration to craft your style."
This was a major breakthrough for Frostad. The 23-year-old was last in the 2022 Beijing final (12th of 12), 9th at 2023 Worlds and 37th at 2025 Worlds and hasn't made a big air World Cup podium since December 2024. A 4th-place finish at X Games in January may have hinted at what was coming.
"In Beijing, I was really young and kind of confused where I wanted to go," he said. "But after Beijing, I fell extremely in love with skiing and also competing. So I was working since then to get to this moment. … And I figured out my way, and I'm beyond happy to have done that."
Forehand's teammates Troy Podmilsak, the 2023 world champion, and Konnor Ralph had personal-best nights as well, finishing just off the podium in 4th and 5th. Reigning world champion New Zealander Luca Harrington, whose parents are from the U.S., took 6th.
An East Coast skier from Fairfield, Connecticut, Forehand grew up hitting the slopes of Stratton Mountain in Vermont. After placing 11th in big air at the 2022 Olympics, the 24-year-old surged into the sport's elite, winning X Games big air titles in 2023 and 2026. He was Sunday's No. 1 qualifier.
Forehand's silver is the United States' second straight in the event, following Colby Stevenson's in 2022. The 1-2 Norway-U.S. result also matches last week's slopestyle event in which Ruud and Alex Hall took gold and silver. Hall did not qualify for Tuesday's big air final.
"We're like brothers at this point," Forehand said of him and the other finalists. "We travel the world together. We get to ski together, have fun together. I actually joked to Matej, 'I think we're going to go to Mexico when we get home.' So we'll have a little vacation."
Men's Freeski Big Air Final
🥇 Tormod Frostad, Norway (195.50)
🥈 Mac Forehand, United States (193.25)
🥉 Matej Svancer, Austria (191.25)
4. Troy Podmilsak, United States (184.50)
5. Konnor Ralph, United States (178.00)
6. Luca Harrington, New Zealand (160.50)
7. Dylan Deschamps, Canada (137.50)
8. Birk Ruud, Norway (118.25)
9. Ulrik Samnoey, Norway (110.75)
10. Matias Roche, France (103.00)
11. Timothe Sivignon, France (80.25)
12. Martin Nordqvist, Sweden (58.00)