Ruud promises to bring butter and the jam to Olympic Slopestyle final

Birk Ruud (NOR) is ready to put the style in Slopestyle when the men’s final gets underway at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

The two-time reigning world champion was the first to drop on Saturday, setting the qualification standard with 81.75 points. Fifty-five runs later, that score would not be surpassed, with compatriot Tormod Frostad (NOR) taking second spot with 79.96 points.

Ruud’s reward will be going last in the final at Livigno Snow Park tomorrow, having the advantage of knowing just what he needs to do to win gold.

"I want to upgrade a little on the last one,” he said after qualification. “Now I upgrade a little bit on the second feature, and then on my jumps.

Rails really key

Jesper Tjader (SWE), the Slopestyle bronze medalist at Beijing 2022, qualified third with 79.83 points.

Defending Olympic champion Alex Hall (USA) qualified in eighth spot on 71.63 points. The reigning Slopestyle Crystal Globe winner has a habit of bringing something unique to the party. And with the best score out of three runs in the final winning, fans can expect him to do the unexpected.

"The rails are unique. They're massive. Really long and really tall which makes them a little scary and also hard to complete,” he said.

"There were areas on the rails, through their length, that it's hard to get to the end of them. That makes it harder to complete them but allows for really cool tricks because you have more time on the rail.

Fellow US skier Mac Forehand, the joint-World Cup leader alongside Ruud, qualified in sixth with 74.46 points.

"I'm definitely going to upgrade some things,” he said. “I think on the last jump and first jump, and then the first rail and second rail. Pretty much my whole run besides my second jump.

"Not really 'never seen before', but maybe new for me. In slopestyle, it's not about NBDs (never been dones), it's more about getting a run with a bunch of technical tricks the whole way down, and I have a lot of technical tricks that I look forward to doing."

The 12-man final field will include X Games gold medalist Luca Harrington (NZL), who qualified ninth on 69.70 points.

The final starts at 12:30 CET.

Moguls action begins

It will be flanked by men’s and women’s Moguls qualification at Livigno Aerials & Moguls Park.

The first qualification round for the men starts at 11:15 while the women begin at 14:15.

The top 10 from Qualifying 1 will advance to the final, with the remaining athletes competing in Qualifying 2 for another 10 spots.

The second qualification round and final for the women take place on 11 February. The second qualification round and final for the men take place on 12 February.

In the 30-strong men’s field, Moguls king Mikaël Kingsbury (CAN), reigning world champion Ikuma Horishima (JPN) and reigning Olympic champion Walter Wallberg (SWE) will be looking to book their final berth at the first attempt.

On the women’s front, reigning Olympic champion and Moguls Crystal Globe leader Jakara Anthony (AUS) will want to put down a marker.

Jaelin Kauf (USA), last season’s Moguls triple crown winner, and compatriot Tess Johnson (USA), who has two Moguls World Cup podium finishes this season, will also be ones to watch.