For years, freestyle skiing fans have watched Mac Forehand push the limits of what’s possible in the air.
From becoming the youngest-ever winner of the FIS World Cup Slopestyle Crystal Globe at just 17 years old to stacking up medals at X Games, the Connecticut bred, Vermont-based athlete has long been considered one of the sport’s most electrifying talents. But this winter delivered something even bigger — a career-defining Olympic moment.
At the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics in Livigno, Italy, Forehand stomped two massive tricks to earn silver in Men’s Freeski Big Air, securing the first Olympic medal of his career and cementing his place among freestyle skiing’s elite.
Even now, weeks later, the moment still doesn’t feel entirely real.
“I have it right here in my pocket,” Forehand told Celeb Secrets, pulling out the medal during our conversation. “I’ve just been carrying it around with me this whole trip… It’s really heavy. It’s pretty surreal.”
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The medal may look effortless now, but Forehand says the road to the Olympics was anything but easy. Team USA’s freestyle program is stacked with talent, meaning even Olympic veterans have to fight for a spot on the roster.
“We probably had seven or eight guys that could have made that team, and there were only four spots,” he explained. “Last year, Alex Hall had already pre-qualified, and Troy Podmilsak won the first two events of the year. I was sitting there looking like maybe the third or fourth spot.”
The uncertainty weighed on him all season, but a reset over the holidays helped change everything. After visiting his girlfriend in Whistler and spending time simply enjoying the sport again, he arrived at a World Cup event in Aspen with a different mindset.
“Honestly, every scenario I played in my head was that I wasn’t going to make the team,” Forehand admitted. “That’s a hard reality to think about.”
The result? A breakthrough win that secured his Olympic spot — and sparked a hot streak that would carry into the biggest competition of his career. One week later, he returned to the same mountain for another major moment, capturing Big Air gold at X Games Aspen 2026.
“After winning the World Cup and then winning X Games the next week, I was like, ‘Alright, I’m on a high right now,’” Forehand said with a laugh. “Let’s keep this going.”
By the time he arrived in Livigno for the Olympic freestyle events, the momentum was undeniable. Still, the Games delivered a reminder that nothing in skiing is guaranteed.
Despite feeling confident in slopestyle training, Forehand struggled to execute his full run when it mattered most.
“The rails were kind of the crux for me,” he said. “I had a run planned that I felt really good about, but it just didn’t come together.”
Watching the podium ceremony from the sidelines only added fuel to the fire, and Big Air was his last chance.
“I had watched three Olympic podium ceremonies at that point — two in Beijing and one there in Milan,” he said. “And I remember thinking, ‘Alright… I want to be on that podium.’”
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What followed in the Men’s Freeski Big Air final would quickly become one of the most talked-about contests in recent memory. Norway’s Tormod Frostad delivered a spectacular performance to win gold, while Austria’s Matej Svancer rounded out the podium. But Forehand was right in the middle of the chaos — throwing down two massive triple cork 2160s that pushed him temporarily into first place. For a brief moment, he even sat in first place.
“The level of tricks that night was insane,” Forehand said. “The top five guys all landed tricks that would win any other contest day.”
Still, the American wasn’t satisfied with playing it safe. Heading into his final run, he knew he needed something bigger.
“I needed like a two-and-a-half point boost,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to get that by cleaning up what I already did — I need to do something new.’”
So he went for a trick he had never attempted before in competition: a nose-butter triple cork 2160. His coaches trusted him. His competitors encouraged him. And with the world watching, Forehand dropped in.
“I was in the athlete lounge with Tormod before my last run,” he said. “I told him, ‘Dude, you’re unbeatable right now.’ And he was like, ‘No man, you can do it.’ That’s what’s so cool about our sport — everyone pushes each other.”
Forehand stomped the trick, earning a massive score and ultimately securing the silver medal.
Moments later, he stood on the Olympic podium alongside two close friends.
“It was so cool to get my name announced and stand there with those guys,” he said. “We’ve done film trips together and spent so much time together. It made the moment even more special.”
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Standing on the Olympic podium alongside Frostad and Svancer was surreal — especially because the trio had spent years skiing together on the same global circuit.
“It was really special because those guys are good friends of mine,” Forehand said. “We’ve done film trips together, traveled all over the world together, and we all ski for the same brand. To share that moment with them made it even cooler.”
The celebration that followed was exactly what you might expect from a group of freestyle skiers who had just competed on the world’s biggest stage. Forehand’s parents were there in Livigno. His girlfriend was waiting at the bottom of the jump. Teammates, athletes and friends packed the venue.
“It was a big night,” he said, laughing.
Of course, not every Olympic memory for Mac Forehand was about competition. Like many athletes experiencing the 2026 Winter Olympics, some of his favorite moments happened away from the jumps — inside the legendary Olympic Village, where athletes from around the world live, eat and unwind together during the Games.
“It was really cool,” Forehand told Celeb Secrets. “We were in Livigno, so it was a bit different. In Milan, it was a proper village with big buildings, little gaming zones, watch zones — tons of stuff to do. We actually went to visit it after the Olympics just to check it out.”
While the Milan village had the classic Olympic setup, the freestyle athletes competing in Livigno had their own version of the experience.
“For us, we were pretty much in like four hotels that were kind of put together as one Olympic village,” he explained.
And as it turns out, their setup may have been the most luxurious of the entire Games.
“I think we had the nicest village out of all of them,” he said with a laugh. “We had this proper spa with an infinity pool that goes outside and indoors. Downstairs there were like four saunas, four steam rooms, ice baths — it was really, really nice.”
The spa quickly became the unofficial athlete hangout spot.
“All the athletes used that stuff so much,” Forehand said. “It was probably the most underrated part of the Olympic experience.”
Even the hotel rooms themselves were a surprise. Forehand shared a room with fellow Team USA skier Alex Hall — and their setup ended up being far more spacious than most.
“Alex had the downstairs and I had an upstairs floor in our room,” he recalled. “We were kind of balling. We both had our own bathrooms and I even had a red-light sauna in my room.”
Naturally, he assumed everyone else had something similar.
“I was like, ‘Damn, I wonder if everyone’s room is like this,’” Forehand joked. “The next day I told everyone our room was sick and they were like, ‘What are you talking about? We have boxes.’ I was like, ‘Oh… sorry guys.’”
Still, the setup made it easy for the entire freestyle crew to spend time together between training and competition.
“Me and Alex were in one room, and then Troy Podmilsak and Konnor [Ralph] were down the hall,” he said. “The girls were on our floor too, so we were all just hanging out together. We had so much fun.”
And like many Olympic athletes, Forehand quickly found a favorite item on the village menu.
“The food was incredible,” he said. “I ate pizza every single day. Pizza and pasta.”
Long before Olympic crowds and global broadcasts, Forehand was just a kid ripping laps at Stratton Mountain Resort. If that 17-year-old version of himself could see where he is today?
“I think he’d be in disbelief,” Forehand said. “Back then I didn’t even have a Red Bull helmet yet. I’d probably be pinching myself.”
But the Olympic medal hasn’t closed the chapter on his goals — it’s opened a new one. His next targets are already clear.
“I want an Olympic gold,” he said. “And I need to win X Games slopestyle. I’ve won Big Air twice, but I want that slopestyle medal so badly.”
Perhaps the most inspiring part of Forehand’s story isn’t the medals or the podiums — it’s the joy he still finds in the sport itself. Even after the Olympics, his favorite days remain the simplest ones.
“I’d wake up at like 10, make a big breakfast, go skiing at noon, ski for five hours, then go home and sleep,” he said of a recent stretch back home in Utah. “All my friends were there, we were just skiing together every day.”
That, he says, is what freestyle skiing is really about.
“We’re not just out there training,” Forehand said. “We’re just out there skiing.”
And after a season that delivered one of the biggest moments of his career, he’s doing exactly that — with a silver medal in his pocket and an even bigger future ahead.
For ore on Mac Forehand’s Olympic journey, make sure to watch our full interview below. Don’t forget to let us know if you’re hyped about his silver medal finish by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sliding into our DMs on Instagram at @celebsecrets.
