Two Connecticut natives who were Olympians in 2022 have been nominated to the Olympic ski team by U.S. Ski & Snowboard. The team will be officially announced Monday.
Mac Forehand, who grew up in Fairfield before moving to Vermont, will compete on the Freeski team in Slopestyle (in which athletes ski down a course with obstacles and jumps) and Big Air (one jump with flips, spins and grabs) while Olivia Giaccio, who grew up in Redding, will compete in moguls.
The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will begin Feb. 6 and run through Feb. 22.
Mac Forehand of the United States competes during the men’s freestyle skiing big air finals of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
“Honored, grateful and awestruck only barely begin to capture what this moment means to me,” Giaccio wrote on Instagram. “It’s taken a lot of grit to get here. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone in my corner who has lifted me up along the way.”
Giaccio, 25, who now lives in Park City, Utah, finished sixth in moguls in the 2022 Winter Games. She has been on the podium in all four World Cups leading up to the Olympics, including taking a bronze medal at the last World Cup at Waterville Valley, N.H. on Jan. 16.
“We have the best freestyle team in the world, and we are bringing an exceptionally talented group of athletes to the Olympics,” Matt Gnoza, program director of the U.S. Freestyle ski team, said in a statement. “Each athlete on this team has different strengths, and I know that they make each other better every day. Between the Olympic veterans and athletes going to the Games for the first time, every athlete has the capability to do great things in February.”
Forehand, 24, finished 11th at the Big Air final and 20th in Slopestyle at the 2022 Games. Last year, he was the silver medalist at the World Championships for Slopestyle.