Get stoked, Connecticut.
Fairfield native Mac Forehand will be going for gold on Tuesday in the Freestyle Skiing Big Air final, after placing first in the qualifying rounds Sunday. The 24-year-old, who grew up in Fairfield before moving to Vermont to pursue skiing at age 14, scored a 183.0 in the qualifying round. He finished ahead of Austria’s Matej Svancer (182.25), Norway’s Barik Ruud (181.00), the defending Olympic champion in the event.
The top 12 freestyle skiers advanced to the final, where athletes will jump three times. Their top two scores will be used to determine who wins gold. Since he came in first in qualifying, Forehand will take to the hill last each time in the final.
Forehand told NBC that he learned the trick he landed on his second qualifying run — a nose butter triple cork 1620 — “three or four days ago.” (No big deal, right?) He plans to use a second trick he learned — a nose butter triple cork 1980 — in the final.
“It’s going to be one of the best finals ever on skis,” he told NBC. “If it’s good weather like this, it’ll be insane. People have been skiing so good.”
Forehand was born in Norwalk and grew up in Fairfield before moving to Vermont at age 14 to focus on skiing. He said his sister, who also competed in freestyle, got him interested in the sport.
“I fully credit my sister, Savannah, with getting me into freestyle skiing,” he told Vermont Magazine last year. “I started out racing for two years when I was young, and she was a mogul skier. I knew that’s where I wanted to go with my skiing, and I switched over to moguls, and eventually freeskiing because of her. ”
Both attended Stratton Mountain School, which has sent at least one athlete to the Winter Olympics every four years since 1976.
This is Forehand’s second Olympics, as he placed 11th in Big Air in 2022 at age 20. He also finished 11th in the Slopestyle competition earlier in these Games.
The Big Air final begins at 1:30 p.m. ET and can be seen on NBC and Peacock.
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