Forehand Wins Tignes, Ralph Earns First World Cup Podium
A stellar course and spring-like conditions set the scene for Saturday morning's slopestyle finals at the Tignes World Cup and the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team looked primed and ready to throw down.
The men’s final featured five Americans, including Mac Forehand, Konnor Ralph, Troy Podmilsak, Hunter Henderson and Alex Hall, who took home the Tignes World Cup big air title and 2023-24 big air Crystal Globe just 12 hours prior.
Coming off his Spring Battle win, Henderson was first to drop for the Americans and threw two 1620s to earn him a solid score of 69.15. Podmilsak and Hall, the two Park City natives, nailed their first runs top-bottom and were the first two competitors of the day to crack into the 80s.
After an impressive showing in qualifications, Ralph put down an explosive first run, capping it off with a double cork 18 with a safety grab and noting, “that’s the best run i’ve ever done!” said Ralph to the cameras in the finish. His clean run was rewarded with a 83.95, putting him just behind teammate Podmilsak.
After seeing his teammates throw down, the pressure was on for top American qualifier Forehand to deliver, and the X Games gold medalist put on a show. Forehand’s first run was a masterclass in slopestyle skiing, throwing a massive switch right double cork 1440 safety and a near-perfect switch left double cork 1620 cuban on the first two jumps and nailing a switch left 630 back 270 on the second rail feature. Forehand was ecstatic with his result in the finish as the judges awarded his run an 85.21, which would hold on to be the top-scoring run of the day in Tignes to secure Forehand his first World Cup slopestyle victory since 2019.
“It’s been a long road and I’ve been working super hard this year,” said Forehand in a post-contest interview, “It’s been five years since my last slopestyle win and it just means the world when all the hard work finally pays off.”
Joining Forehand in the top three was teammate Ralph, who earned his first World Cup podium of his career. Norway’s Tormod Frostad took second place, Hall ended his Tignes campaign in fourth and Podmilsak finished the day in fifth. Henderson took 13th.
Rell Harwood represented the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team on the women’s side and finished the day eighth overall.
The Stifel U.S. Freeski Team heads to Silvaplana for the final slopestyle World Cup of the season. With both overall and discipline-specific Crystal Globes on the line, it will certainly be an entertaining season finale.
