Mac Forehand

Profile and significance

Mac Forehand is a leading American freeski athlete whose results, trick progression, and film parts place him at the sharp end of modern slopestyle and big air. He first hit global headlines in 2019 by winning the FIS Slopestyle Crystal Globe at just 17 years old, then proved his staying power with a string of major results across World Cups and X Games. In January 2023 at Aspen he landed the world’s first forward double cork 2160 in competition to clinch Men’s Ski Big Air gold, a watershed moment that showcased his ability to pair innovation with contest composure. In March 2025 he added a World Championships slopestyle silver medal in Engadin, underlining his status as a podium threat in every major field. Forehand’s blend of contest hardware and credible film output with Faction Skis has made him a reference point for fans and progressing skiers looking to understand what cutting-edge freeskiing looks like today.

Competitive arc and key venues

Raised in Connecticut and developed at Vermont’s Stratton program, Forehand stacked results early through junior and NorAm calendars. He won the FIS Junior World Championship in big air in 2018 in New Zealand, before stepping to World Cup podiums and claiming his first World Cup victory at Mammoth a few months later. The 2019 Slopestyle Crystal Globe capped that breakout season and set expectations for the Olympic cycle ahead. At the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, he advanced to the inaugural freeski big air final and finished 11th, while missing the slopestyle final—an experience he has described as motivation rather than a ceiling.

The next two winters brought the consistency that marks real contenders. He took World Cup wins and podiums across hallmark venues, including a slopestyle victory at Tignes in March 2024, multiple slopestyle podiums at LAAX and Silvaplana’s Corvatsch, and a big air win at Copper. In January 2023 he struck gold at Aspen Snowmass’s Buttermilk big air jump, then backed it up with X Games slopestyle silver in 2023, slopestyle bronze in 2024, and another slopestyle bronze in 2025. The 2025 World Championships in the Engadin saw him step onto the slopestyle podium with silver and finish just off the podium in big air, a major-weekend performance that confirmed his all-around credentials.

How they ski: what to watch for

Forehand’s runs are built around clarity and control under pressure. On jumps, he favors clean axis separation and extended grab time—often a held Cuban—so even his heaviest spins remain readable to judges and fans. The forward double 2160 he landed at Aspen wasn’t a one-off party trick; it fit a pattern of measured escalation, where he increases degree of difficulty only when speed, pop, and axis are dialed. In slopestyle he carries speed efficiently and uses switch approaches and both-way spins to stack amplitude without sacrificing landing quality. The hallmark on rails is precision: centered stance, reliable edge control, and natural-looking pretzel and re-direction options that let him adapt to course builders’ creativity in places like Buttermilk, LAAX, and Corvatsch.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Forehand isn’t just a bib-number skier. He has appeared in Faction’s marquee projects—The Collective (2019), Roots (2021), and Abstract (2023)—and those segments reveal a skier who values aesthetic line choice as much as podium math. The film work shows creativity on non-standard takeoffs and off-axis approaches, reinforcing his contest identity with an artistic one. Between competitions and filming blocks he has also leaned into progression-driven ideas that circulate widely online, including inverted rail concepts and unconventional features. That willingness to prototype, fail, iterate, and finally stick a world-first on a live broadcast has made him one of the sport’s most-watched technicians. It’s also a feedback loop: filming sharpens his trick selection and adaptability, and competition demands polish and repeatability—together they create a style that reads clearly on screen and on scorecards.

Geography that built the toolkit

Forehand’s skiing is stamped by the East Coast. Long winters, night laps, and firm snow at places like Stratton and Mount Snow teach timing and edge discipline, habits that transfer directly to slick morning courses on World Cup finals day. As his calendar expanded, he layered in the rhythm of bigger lines: Buttermilk’s X Games build at Aspen Snowmass, the creative slopestyle set-ups at LAAX, the high-alpine light and speed at Corvatsch above Silvaplana, and the varied jump lines at Tignes. Earlier, the Southern Hemisphere contest swing through Cardrona gave him essential big air repetitions at a young age. That mix of icy fundamentals and global venue variety explains why his trick execution tends to travel well from site to site.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Forehand rides with Faction Skis, pairs goggles from Oakley, wears outerwear from Spyder, and draws project support from Red Bull. For viewers trying to reverse-engineer the feel of his runs, it’s less about specific model names and more about the setup principles those partners enable. His park skis live near a true twin profile with a mount point that encourages a centered stance for both rails and big jumps; tune and detune are kept consistent so quick swaps between urban-style features and pristine contest rails don’t introduce surprises. Optics choices matter on high-contrast alpine venues—neutral lenses that preserve depth cues go a long way when you’re lining up a blind-takeoff triple. Outerwear that moves without bunching helps on switch takeoffs and heavy grabs. The meta-lesson: a predictable, balanced setup supports the clean axis control and grab continuity that define his skiing.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Forehand is a complete package: a World Cup winner and 2019 slopestyle Crystal Globe holder; an X Games champion with multiple additional X Games medals in slopestyle; an Olympian who converted that experience into a World Championships silver medal; and a consistent presence in respected film projects. He’s also an instructive watch. If you’re learning to “read” slopestyle, watch how he sequences rail tricks to keep speed for the money jumps; note the way he locks and holds grabs across rotations so judges have no doubt; and pay attention to how he manages pressure—keeping a progressive trick like a double 2160 in reserve, then striking when the moment demands it. That combination of fundamentals, competitive poise, and creativity has turned Mac Forehand into one of the sport’s clearest case studies in how to build a modern freeski career that resonates both on broadcast and in the edits that shape culture.