Defending champ Alex Hall 1 of 3 US skiers through to slopestyle final

LIVIGNO, Italy -- Olympic medalists Alex Hall of the United States and Jesper Tjader of Sweden made it through the freeskiing slopestyle qualifying round at the Milan Cortina Winter Games on Saturday to set up a showdown in next week's final in the Italian Alps.

Hall, the defending champion, was one of three Americans to make the field of 12 who will compete for medals in the mountain town of Livigno, near the Swiss border. His teammates Mac Forehand and Konnor Ralph also advanced.

The 27-year-old Hall sounded relieved after securing his spot in Tuesday's final after two smooth runs under sunny skies.

"It's always nerve-wracking during the qualifiers," Hall said. "There is a little bit of strategy involved. You don't want to show all your cards. You don't want to try something too hard that you might not land."

"In the finals, you just go all out," he added.

The slopestyle event features skiers who slide across rails and perform aerial tricks to impress the judges with difficulty and originality. The best score from each of the two runs determines the rankings.

Tjader, the bronze medalist at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, tumbled off a rail in his initial run, putting him in danger of elimination. A strong second run vaulted the 31-year-old to third place.

"Everybody did amazing runs so I really had to step up to make the final," Tjader said. "I'm really proud of my run. I did a few new tricks that I haven't done on a slopestyle run before."

Norway's Birk Ruud, the first men's rider of the day, executed a flawless performance and finished at the top of the pack on Saturday.

"I was just all in on the first one," the 25-year-old said. "I was focused as if it was my only chance. It felt awesome."

Ruud finished just ahead of fellow Norwegian Tormod Frostad. Compatriot Sebastian Schjerve finished 11th to also advance.

--Reuters, special to Field Level Media