LIVIGNO, Italy — Team USA picked up a medal in men’s slopestyle on Tuesday but no longer owns an event it used to dominate.
Norway’s Birk Ruud, the world’s top-ranked slopestyle freeskier, put down a monster run right out of the gate Tuesday to win the gold medal and take the title from defending champion Alex Hall, who finished with silver. Luca Harrington of New Zealand won the bronze.
Advertisement
Coming into the Milan Cortina Games, Americans had won six of the nine total medals since freeski slopestyle was added to the Olympic program in 2018. But this year, the U.S. contingent struggled to live up to its typical standard, with Konnor Ralph finishing ninth in his Olympic debut and Mac Forehand in 11th.
The 24-year old Forehand, who came in with high hopes of getting on the podium, failed to navigate the first rail of his first run. Though Forehand was able to put down a second run, more issues with rails on his final try left him well out of medal contention.
Ruud, one of the most versatile skiers on the planet, won the gold medal in big air four years ago in Beijing. He has subsequently become a much bigger factor in slopestyle with seven World Cup titles over the last four years and World Championship titles in 2023 and 2025.
Advertisement
After a mediocre first run by his standards, Hall got down to business on his second try, executing a much cleaner and bigger performance to score 85.75, just behind Ruud (86.28). Needing one the best runs of his career to have a shot at repeating gold, Hall’s third attempt was a disaster as he misjudged the first rail and landed on his backside.