US freestyle skier Colby Stevenson said Tuesday he wants to put his traumatic past behind him as he goes for Olympic glory in Beijing, having survived a near-fatal car crash six years ago.

On Wednesday, the 24-year-old qualified fifth for the men’s freeski Big Air final and reflected on a watershed moment in his short life.

When the truck he was driving crashed, he damaged his skull, ribs, an eye socket, jaw, and neck.

“The car crash definitely changed my perspective on life a long time ago, but I’m so in the moment now that that’s a story in the past,” he said at the Big Air venue in Shougang Park.

Both his parents quit work to care for him as he recovered from his injuries and Stevenson returned to the World Cup circuit eight months later.

Each year, Stevenson marks the anniversary of the crash, May 8, to “celebrate life”.

“For sure, it was amazing to have come back from something so severe, but I’m going forward now and soaking it all in,” he said.

Stevenson bounced back to become one of the top names in freestyle skiing.

He missed the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang with injury but in Aspen in 2020 he was the first rookie in history to win two gold medals at a Winter X Games.

Norway’s Ruud Birk, the champion of the 2019 Olympic test event who won Tuesday’s qualifying event with 187.75 points, is the favourite for Wednesday’s Big Air final.

Alexander Hall of the United States, who won Big Air gold at the X Games last month, and Oliwer Magnusson of Sweden, the 2021 Big Air world champion, will be his main rivals.

“It could be anyone’s day,” said Stevenson, “We’re all going to go out there, throw out the biggest tricks we have ever done and have a good time.”