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'One of the craziest finals ever': Harrington holds head high after big air spectacle
Sport Nation • February 18th, 2026 11:48 am
Luca Harrington | Photo: Photosport
Kiwi Luca Harrington is far from downtrodden after his sixth place finish in one of the most electric men's freeski big air finals the Winter Olympics has ever witnessed.
Storming out of the gates on Wednesday morning (NZ time), Harrington threw down an enormous triple cork 1980 to register a highly competitive score of 94, vaulting him to the cusp of the top three.
Unfortunately, that was the best the Wanaka product could muster, unable to land in his second run nor earn the 93 he needed in his last attempt, as the top of the field pulled clear with some mammoth scores.
Norway's Tormod Frostad clinched gold with a staggering 98.50 in the last jump of the day, moments after silver medallist Mac Forehand had taken the lead with his 98.25.
Harrington admits he was in awe at the level of trickery unfolding in front of him.
"Nobody can take away from the fact that that was one of the craziest big air finals we've ever seen," Harrington said after the event.
"Even the qualifications were crazy high, so I knew something big was going to be coming tonight and
"I'm proud of everyone. I'm glad we're all safe. We're all healthy. And a huge shout out to Mac, Tormod, and Matej. Those guys skied unbelievable.
"Of course, I wanted to ski a little better and be up on the steps with those guys. But it's part of our sport. It's how it goes and I'm still proud of my efforts."
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott on winning big air silver at Milano Cortina 2026 | Scotty & Izzy
Not helping anyone's cause were the brutal conditions at the Livigno Snow Park, where heavy snow and head winds saw the start of the competition delayed.
Harrington conceded the uncertainty surrounding the weather had thrown the field for a loop - despite the scores suggesting otherwise.
"We had a whirlwind of events going on out there," he recalled.
"We had a bit of a headwind through training. Nobody was really clearing the jumps then it turned into a full-on blizzard and all of a sudden we had speed again.
"It's part of our sport and things can change and we ought to be able to be ready to adapt. But I'm stoked, we all still got to put on a pretty cool show tonight."
Of course, Harrington won't be going home empty-handed, having clinched bronze in the men's freeski slopestyle last week.
And for now he'll be sticking about the slopes to cheer on his teammates, with both Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Dane Menzies in the hunt for medals in their respective snowboard slopestyle finals overnight, after both were postponed due to the aforementioned weather.
"I'm excited for them.
"I'm honoured to watch them throw down in the pipe, and to kind of embrace this experience as a spectator rather than an athlete and to just be there to support them."
