[3] McDonald was introduced to mogul skiing in his hometown of Park City, Utah when he joined Wasatch Freestyle at the age of seven.

[7] Growing up, he pored over videos of the most talented mogul skiers, such as Canadians Mikael Kingsbury and Alexandre Bilodeau, to help inform his own technique and Olympic dreams.

[1] McDonald earned first place at the FIS open mogul competition at Idre Fjall in Sweden on November 21, 2021, which extended him his first World Cup start.

[9] In December 2021, he made his official World Cup debut at Ruka, Finland as the youngest competitor, leading the United States with a fifth-place finish.

Mogul skier and 2014 Winter Olympian Ludvig Fjällströ also described McDonald as a "tall American" after his first-place finish at Idre.

[12] McDonald rounded out the season with a first place men's moguls finish at the FIS Freestyle Junior World Championships at Chiesa in Valmalenco.

[13] After a solid first World Cup season, McDonald secured his spot on Team USA headed for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Bradley Wilson (now three-time Olympian: 2014, 2018, and 2022), Nick Page, and Dylan Walczyk joined McDonald in Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Wilson had a strong start at the World Cup in 2010 with two second-place finishes before being named to the US team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver; he earned a bronze medal.