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Tormod Frostad of Norway won the gold medal in big air freeskiing at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, beating Mac Forehand of the United States on the last jump of a high-scoring final on Tuesday night in Italy.
Frostad had the lead through most of the 12-man final after nailing two massive jumps. But Forehand turned a thrilling competition on its head when he moved ahead of Frostad on the second-to-last jump of the night.
That turned what had been looking like a victory lap for Frostad into the most pressure-filled run of his career.
But the 23-year-old Frostad pulled out another flawlessly executed effort to secure his first gold medal in his second Games.
Frostad finished with 195.50 points to Forehand’s 193.25. Matej Svancer of Austria claimed the bronze with 191.25 points.
Quebec City’s Dylan Deschamps overcame a fall and broken ski in his opening run to finish seventh in the 12-man field with 137.50 points as an Olympic rookie.
The 23-year-old qualified ninth for the final with score of 175.50 on Sunday.
“I’m really proud,” Deschamps, who works upward of 60 hours per week in construction, told CBC Sports of his Olympic journey. “I work hard to be here. I’ve got no regrets.
“I do everything to win in my life. I will keep doing it and pushing.”
With the snow falling at Livigno Snow Park, Deschamps moved into eighth position after racking up 91 points on his second run.
Pulled out of quad attempt
For his third and final run, Deschamps attempted a quadruple cork 1800, completing four inverts and five spins. That trick earned him his first X Games medal, bronze, last month in Aspen, Colo.
“With the snow, the takeoff was a little bit snowy. My tail cut a little bit, so I lost so much power,” Deschamps told CBC Sports. “For the quad I need insane power, so I did a triple.”
Deschamps said his Olympic experience has energized and motivated him to return with Team Canada for the 2030 Games in the French Alps.
After beginning freestyle skiing at age 13, he started competing in World Cup events in 2022 and won the big air event in Chur, Switzerland in October 2023.
Deschamps earned two more big air podiums last season, placing third in Chur and Beijing. Two months ago, the Canadian collected his fourth career World Cup podium, finishing second in big air in Secret Garden.
The 23-year-old Frostad was competing in his second Winter Games.
Defending champion Birk Ruud of Norway finished eighth after crashing on two of his runs. He won gold in slopestyle last week.
The final was delayed for 15 minutes because of snow flurries that continued throughout the evening. A snowstorm earlier in the day forced the women’s snowboarding slopestyle final to be pushed back to Wednesday.
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