Under a heavy blanket of cloud and amid swirling Alpine winds, Norway’s Birk Ruud delivered a performance for the ages at Livigno Snow Park on Tuesday, clinching Olympic gold in the men’s freeski slopestyle event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Ruud’s triumph, achieved on a course that left most of his rivals reeling, marks yet another chapter in the young Norwegian’s already glittering career.
It was a day when the elements seemed intent on stealing the show. Flat light and poor visibility challenged every athlete, making each run down the mountain a test of nerve and skill. Yet, when it mattered most, Ruud, 25, rose to the occasion. On his very first run, he landed one of the contest’s few flawless performances—a feat that would ultimately secure him the top spot on the podium with a score of 86.28.
“It was kind of the last piece to the collection, with big air and slopestyle. It’s a beautiful feeling and a special moment. I’ll try to take it in,” Ruud said, reflecting on his victory. The gold medal in slopestyle joins his big air title from Beijing 2022, making Ruud one of the sport’s most decorated athletes. He’s also a two-time slopestyle world champion and boasts three X Games titles to his name.
The slopestyle format, introduced to the Olympics in 2014, asks athletes to navigate a daunting course of rails and jumps, dazzling judges with originality, difficulty, and execution. On this gray February day, the course proved especially unforgiving: eight of the twelve competitors fell on their first runs, and even defending champion Alex Hall of the United States struggled to find his rhythm.
Hall, 27, the gold medalist from Beijing and one of the sport’s most innovative riders, ultimately claimed silver with a score of 85.75. He found redemption on his second run after a shaky start, executing a routine he admitted he’d never fully landed in practice. “I was so stoked to land that run,” Hall told reporters. “It was tricky out there for sure, just a little bit flat light, so definitely hard to see on the jumps. I knew I had to go all out. The talent’s just so incredible.”
Hall’s silver also extended Team USA’s remarkable podium streak in Olympic slopestyle: since the event’s debut at Sochi 2014, American skiers have medaled every time. This time, however, it was Norway’s turn to shine brightest.
New Zealand’s Luca Harrington, just 21 years old and one of the youngest in the field, captured bronze with a score of 85.15. His journey to the podium was anything but straightforward. After starting the contest in 10th place, Harrington needed a near-perfect final run to break into the medals. “I think that wave of emotion that actually hit, that I was actually the bronze medalist, came from so deep inside of me,” Harrington said. “It’s come from my whole experience, my whole journey to get here.”
For much of the competition, unpredictability was the only constant. Jesper Tjader of Sweden, the bronze medalist from Beijing, was in contention until a dramatic crash off a rail on his third run sent one of his skis flying, ending his medal hopes and leaving him in fifth place. The course’s rails and kickers, made more treacherous by the weather, claimed more than their fair share of victims—among them U.S. skier Mac Forehand, who fell off the second rail in all three attempts, and Konnor Ralph, whose ambitious triple-cork 1800-degree jump in his final run was not enough to overcome earlier mistakes.
As the final runs approached, Ruud’s early lead looked increasingly insurmountable. With the best of three runs counting, his competitors pressed hard but could not catch the Norwegian’s opening salvo. Hall’s last attempt ended with a fall after coming off a rail, and the rest of the field faltered in the tricky conditions.
Ruud’s final run, with gold already assured, turned into a celebratory victory lap. In a moment equal parts comic and triumphant, he spun off a rail, landed facedown, lost a ski, then simply snapped it back on and launched a huge flip off the last kicker—an exclamation point on a day he’ll never forget.
But for Ruud, the victory was tinged with emotion. On the podium, as the Norwegian anthem played, he thought of his late father, who died of cancer in 2021. “My dad is watching from somewhere else,” Ruud said. “When we played the national anthem, I was thinking of him and just everything that happens in life, and suddenly now I’m here, which is something I was working hard towards. Everybody here has been working towards it, and everybody is dreaming of the gold. When you think of all that, it’s a lot and I get emotional, which is beautiful. It’s a good feeling to have both happy and sad tears at the same time. It’s all beautiful.”
The day’s results add another layer to the rich history of Olympic slopestyle. The Americans, who swept the podium in the event’s inaugural appearance at Sochi, have now captured a medal at every Games since. Yet, as the sport evolves and the global field deepens, new stars continue to emerge—none brighter at the moment than Birk Ruud.
Looking ahead, Ruud’s Olympic journey is far from over. With the big air competition looming later this week, he’ll have the chance to defend his Beijing title and further cement his legacy as one of freeskiing’s all-time greats. For now, though, the spotlight belongs to the Norwegian, who turned a gray, challenging day into pure Olympic gold.
As the sun finally broke through the clouds over Livigno, Ruud pumped his fists and embraced his fellow medalists on the podium, savoring a moment earned through grit, artistry, and a little bit of magic on the snow.