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Milano Cortina 2026 Parallel Giant Slalom Results: Karl and Maderova Win Olympic Gold

Benjamin Karl, 38, became the first man to collect three Olympic snowboarding medals, defending his parallel giant-slalom title Saturday on a day of upsets at the Mottolino course in Livigno. Austrian Veteran Makes History With Third Medal Karl beat Korea’s Kim Sang-kyum by 0.19 seconds in the Big Final, adding Milano-Cortina 2026 gold to the silver he won at Vancouver 2010 and the bronze from Sochi 2014. Seeded third after qualification, he survived a 0.03-second scare against Italy’s Maurizio Bormolini in the round-of-16, then eliminated teammate Andreas Prommegger by 0.12 in the quarter-finals and Beijing 2022 runner-up Tim Mastnak by 0.24 in the semis. Bulgaria Snares First Snowboard Medal The bronze match needed a photo finish. Bulgaria’s Tervel Zamfirov, 29, and Mastnak clocked identical times to the hundredth; high-speed frames showed Zamfirov’s left boot slightly ahead, giving Bulgaria its first Olympic snowboard medal and denying Slovenia a second straight men’s PGS silver. Czech Rookie Steps In as Ledecka Falls Ester Ledecka’s attempt at a third consecutive Olympic title ended in the quarter-finals when she trailed Austria’s Sabine Payer by 0.06 after clipping an early gate. The exit cleared the path for 24-year-old Zuzana Maderova, who had never won a World Cup race. Seeded second, Maderova beat Germany’s Cheyenne Loch by 0.36, advanced when Ramona Hofmeister crashed, and beat Italy’s Elisa Caffont by 0.45 in the semi-final. Maderova Cruises to Maiden Gold In the women’s Big Final, Maderova burst from the start and, despite a mid-course wobble, finished 0.83 seconds ahead of Payer—an eternity in parallel racing. Italy’s Lucia Dalmasso took bronze, edging teammate Caffont by 0.11 in the small final as the home crowd roared. Maderova’s prior best on the World Cup circuit had been two third-place finishes this season. Karl: ‘No Pressure, Just Snowboard’ “I already owned every color, so pressure stayed outside my bubble,” Karl told reporters before draping himself in the Austrian flag and peeling off his race suit in salute to downhill great Hermann Maier. Coaches said Karl spent race morning listening to classic rock on oversized headphones instead of studying split times—routine, he says, that kept nerves low while temperatures dipped to –14 °C and hard-pack punished the smallest skid. Useful Resources FIS Snowboard Hub – Live timing sheets, athlete bios and World Cup standings for parallel events Snowboard Austria – Technique videos and training-camp calendar used by Karl and teammates “Race Like a Pro” course analysis – Free breakdown of Livigno’s Mottolino slope angles and gate spacing Olympic Channel Replay Library – Full Milano-Cortina 2026 parallel finals available on demand World Snowboard Tour – Global competition pathway explaining how riders qualify for future Olympics

Jennifer Johnson · Snowboarding · 2026-03-01 09:40

Snowboarding Results: Mac Forehand Wins Silver in Men’s Big Air Final

Japanese skaters seized the podium’s top tier in the women’s short program, while U.S. men landed their second-ever big-air Olympic medal—two storylines that frame the early medal count at the 2026 Winter Games. Japanese Women Dominate Short Program Rankings Ami Nakai’s clean triple-triple combination and level-four spins earned 78.62 points, giving the 17-year-old a 1.84-point cushion over compatriot Kaori Sakamoto. Mone Chiba, also from Japan, sits fourth, meaning three of the first four places now wear the rising-sun flag. The trio train at separate rinks—Nakai in Nagoya, Sakamoto in Kobe, Chiba in Sapporo—yet all share choreographer Mihoko Higuchi, whose emphasis on seamless transitions has become a national blueprint. U.S. Skaters Split by Single Jump Error Reigning world champion Alysa Liu muscled into third with a triple axel that drew +4.14 Grade-of-Execution, but teammates Isabeau Levito and Amber Glenn left points on the table. Levito under-rotated the second jump of a planned combination, sliding her to eighth; Glenn telegraphed an intended triple-triple after landing a textbook axel, then touched down on the Salchow, relegating the three-time national titlist to 13th. The 15-place gap between Liu and Glenn equals the largest ever within one U.S. Olympic squad, data from SkatingScores.com show. Forehand’s 98-Point Trick Seals Silver In freestyle skiing’s men’s big-air final, Vermont’s Mac Forehand uncorked a switch left triple 1980 safety on the last jump, a score of 98.25 that catapulted him from fourth to second. Judges awarded two other riders 95-point rides, but none could match Forehand’s amplitude—he traveled 34 m horizontally at 5.2 m peak height, according to broadcast telemetry. The silver is the United States’ second big-air podium in four Olympic appearances; the first came via Nick Goepper’s bronze in 2022. Coaches Re-Examine Mental Load Protocols National federation memos circulating after the events highlight a pattern: athletes who nail standalone ultra-craft skills—Glenn’s axel, Levito’s triple lutz—are hemorrhaging points on subsequent elements. “Sequential cognitive fatigue is the new frontier,” said U.S. Figure Skating sports psychologist Rainer Meister, noting that pressure-triggered cortisol spikes can erode working memory within 15 seconds, roughly the interval between jump combos. Programs are now inserting micro-breathing cues and simplified key-word mantras between elements to reset attention. Broadcasters Eye Dual-Market Window With Japanese skaters commanding 75 % of the top-four screen time and an American medal on the snow side, rights holders see a sweet-spot live slot: 8-10 p.m. EST (10 a.m.-noon JST). NBC’s internal research notes that dual-national storylines lift average-minute ratings by 18 % among 18-34 viewers when both markets have podium contenders. Expect tonight’s free-skate broadcast to open with a split-screen feature on Nakai and Liu, followed by Forehand’s silver-run replay, a scheduling formula engineered for social-media clip virality across continents. Action Steps for Viewers Who Want to Follow the Drama Set a phone alert for the women’s free-skate group-two warm-up (Sun., 7:40 p.m. EST) when Nakai, Sakamoto and Liu share the ice for practice jumps. Stream the BBC’s tactical camera on iPlayer—it isolates each coach’s boards, letting you hear the pre-jump cues. Track live GOE updates on the ISU’s Judge1 app; Japanese and U.S. panels historically diverge on edge calls. Clip Forehand’s 1980 on NBC’s TikTok feed—slow-motion angle shows the ski flex that stunned judges—and compare it to the gold-run trick frame-by-frame. Source: International Skating Union event reports, NBC Sports research notes, U.S. Figure Skating coaching bulletins

Ava Mitchell · Snowboarding · 2026-02-28 18:36

Snowboard Alpine 2026 Olympics: Top PGS Medal Contenders to Watch

Livigno, Italy, will stage the first snowboard Alpine event of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Games on 8 February, when 32 men and 32 women race through knockout parallel giant-slalom heats on Italian snow. Olympic PGS Set for Livigno Snow Park The single-day contest runs entirely inside the Valtellina cluster’s Snow Park. Qualifying starts at 09:00 CET; the head-to-head medal bracket fires up at 13:00 CET. Crews have cut two 380-metre lanes with a 22-degree average pitch, leaving riders almost no room to recover from the slightest edge mistake. Italy’s Men Target Podium Sweep Maurizio Bormolini carries the World Cup No. 1 bib and three victories this season. Roland Fischnaller, 45, comes off a last-gate second place in Bad Gastein, while Aaron March leads the overall parallel standings with five podiums. Add Mirko Felicetti—winner of the December opener—and half of the 16-racer knockout bracket could wear blue. Veteran Challengers from Austria and Germany Benjamin Karl, in his farewell tour, already owns every Olympic shade: silver (2010), bronze (2014) and gold (2022). Fabian Obmann has stacked three straight podiums, giving Austria a two-pronged threat. Germany’s Stefan Baumeister, fourth in Beijing, brings three previous Games and a season-opening podium in Lake Louise. Ledecka Returns as Two-Sport Favorite Czech star Ester Ledecka has raced mostly on skis this winter, yet her lone snowboard start—a wire-to-wire win in Simonhöhe—reminded rivals she is unbeaten at the Games since 2018. She will also start the Alpine Super-G later in the fortnight, chasing her third straight dual-sport double. Injuries Reshape Women’s Medal Picture Sabine Payer of Austria topped the World Cup until an ankle sprain in December; she returned to on-snow training only last week. Germany’s Ramona Theresia Hofmeister sat out December, then answered with January wins in Austria and Slovenia. Their form will decide whether Italy’s Elisa Caffont or Lucia Dalmasso can turn five-race podium speed into medals under home cheers. How to Watch and What to Watch For Eurovision Sport streams qualifying from 08:45 CET; English commentary begins 15 minutes before the first run. The “Milano-Cortina 26” app pushes bracket alerts the instant each knockout heat ends. Lane choice matters: the red course has been 0.18 sec faster—expect higher seeds to grab it when the coin lands. On-site fans should reach the Carosello 3000 grandstand by 07:30 CET; entry is free but fills fast after 08:00. [IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_0] Source: FIS, Milano-Cortina 2026 Organising Committee

Emily Miller · Snowboarding · 2026-02-26 18:00

Livigno Snowboard Slopestyle Final Postponed by Extreme Weather

Livigno, Italy—Arctic air and non-stop snow scrubbed every freestyle skiing and snowboard final set for Tuesday at the Mottolino and Carosello venues, sending athletes back to base lodges shortly after dawn. Blizzard Shuts Down Livigno Alpine Events Temperatures hit –21 °C and more than 15 cm of fresh snow piled up in six hours, erasing the sculpted landings of the aerials ramp and glazing the slopestyle rail line. Safety delegates suspended operations at 08:30 local time after visibility fell below 30 m, triggering a chain of postponements that now squeeze the week-long calendar. Postponements Hit Aerials and Slopestyle Finals The women’s freestyle aerials qualifier—already bumped once on Monday—was halted minutes before the first skier dropped. Crews had raked and salted the 65-degree take-off all night, yet blowing snow refilled each groove within minutes.Across the valley, the women’s snowboard slopestyle final lost its afternoon slot; judges ruled riders could not safely gauge speed for the 12-metre down-rail and 65-foot booter combo topping the course.Men’s aerials, slated as the marquee evening session, remains unscheduled while staff brace for a second storm wave forecast for Wednesday morning. Olympic Champions Left Waiting on New Start Times The reshuffle stalls two headline rivalries. Reigning Olympic aerials champion Xu Mengtao of China, plus the silver medalist competing under a neutral designation, must now extend the ten-day taper they began in Davos.On the slopestyle side, the defending Olympic gold medalist and current world leader topped Saturday’s qualifying, with Japanese challenger Ono Mitsuki only 1.2 points behind—an anticipated showdown postponed indefinitely.Athletes retreated to dry-land centres in Bormio, 40 km west, where jump ponds and trampoline gyms offer limited substitutes for on-snow rehearsal. In Livigno, cafeteria lines stretched through the lobby as racers killed time over extra espressos. Organizers Scramble to Redraw Competition Calendar Race director Marco Parolini will reconvene officials at 06:00 Wednesday to assess a 48-hour weather window, but concedes “back-to-back finals” may be necessary if the storm track stalls. Broadcasters have been told to keep Thursday evening open as a contingency slot, while village managers doubled meal-service shifts to cover extended stays.Manual snow removal, which required 45 staffers with shovels and leaf blowers, is under review; critics argue that automated snow-management systems—standard at Alpine World Cup stops—remain absent from most freestyle parks, leaving crews exposed to exactly the polar outbreak that struck Livigno. Useful Resources FIS Weather Protocol Handbook – outlines minimum visibility and temperature thresholds for freestyle events Swix Snow Temperature Calculator – helps athletes re-wax skis when mercury swings Infront Sports & Media Broadcast Calendar – updated start-time matrix for postponed sessions Livigno Snow Forecast (MeteoTrevano) – hourly updates used by team technicians Team USA Delay Management Guide – mental-skills workbook for extended competition holds Source: Original reporting by on-site staff, February 28, 2026

Hazel Reed · Snowboarding · 2026-02-24 11:23

Olympic Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom 2026: Ledecka Hunts Historic Three-Peat

Ester Ledecka will try to make Olympic history on 1 March 2026 when the women’s Parallel Giant Slalom opens at Livigno Snow Park, the sixth day of the Milano Cortina Winter Games. No snowboarder has ever won three straight PGS golds. Ledecka Chases Third Straight PGS Gold The Czech rider, who stunned Alpine purists by grabbing Super-G gold in 2018, starts qualification at 09:00 CET. She has skipped the Alpine downhill in nearby Bormio, betting everything on the board event she has owned since PyeongChang. A win would keep her on track to repeat the rare ski-snowboard double she completed eight years ago. Miki Tops Japanese Threat Tsubaki Miki, 22, leads the 2025-26 PGS World Cup and beat Ledecka to Parallel Slalom gold at the 2023 Bakuriani worlds. Tomoka Takeuchi, 42, races her fourth Games, while Austria’s Claudia Riegler, 52, becomes the oldest Olympic snowboarder ever, extending the record she set at 44 in 2018. Italy Men Aim for Podium Sweep The host nation has four riders inside the PGS top six. Veteran Roland Fischnaller, 45, tops the World Cup after wins in Carezza and Mylin. Engadin team champions Maurizio Bormolini and Aaron March sit third and fourth; Mirko Felicetti, December Mylin winner, adds depth no rival team can match. Karl’s Last Run at History Defending champion Benjamin Karl, 40, calls these his final Games. Any medal would give the Austrian four Olympic podium finishes, the most by a male snowboarder. He trails only Fischnaller in this season’s rankings and logged the fastest qualification time at January’s test event on the same slope. Big Air Qualifiers Close Night Floodlights switch on at 19:30 for women’s Big Air qualification. Austria’s Anna Gasser starts her bid for a third straight title. New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Britain’s Mia Brookes are early threats, while Japan’s Kokomo Murase, Reira Iwabuchi and Mari Fukada—who swept the 2025 world podium—join a 30-rider field chasing 12 final spots on Monday. [IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_0] Useful Resources FIS Snowboard World Cup standings – live points tables and race replays Milano Cortina 2026 schedule app – real-time start lists and venue transport Snowboard Austria technical blog – equipment notes from World Cup servicemen “Riding Sideways” podcast – interviews with Ledecka, Miki and Karl on Olympic prep

Emily Johnson · Snowboarding · 2026-02-23 11:13

Great Britain Wins First-Ever Olympic Snowboard Cross Gold in Mixed Team Event

Charlotte Bankes crossed the Livigno finish line 0.12 seconds ahead of Italy’s Michela Moioli on 15 February, sealing Britain’s first Olympic gold on snow and lifting Team GB to a record two-gold tally at the 2026 Winter Games. Historic First Snow Gold for Team GB The 28-year-old from Hemel Hempstead began the final leg 0.99 s behind Moioli and 0.14 s behind France’s Chloé Bozzolo after Huw Nightingale’s opener. Bankes dived inside off the third berm, cleared the triple jump clean and stayed low through the last roller to win the mixed-team snowboard-cross debut. Italy edged France for silver, while Australia’s hopes ended when Adam Lambert clipped a gate and recorded the biggest start delay of the final. How the Mixed Relay Format Works Olympic rules stagger the women’s start to match the men’s time gaps—0.1 s on the track equals 0.1 s on the clock. Nightingale kept deficits below 0.4 s in every prelim, handing Bankes workable leashes instead of the near-second holes that sank Australia. Coaches get live gap feeds on the start ramp, letting riders shave hundredths with a quicker gate snap. Bankes Erases Individual Disappointment The gold erased a mid-week exit in the women’s individual quarter-final, where a clipped gate ended her run in the same round as 2022. Overnight, staff tweaked board angles for Livigno’s hard-pack; the change showed as Bankes held a tighter line on every turn. “Yesterday felt like rock bottom,” she said. “Today we proved we train relays every Friday, not just solo time-trials.” Nightingale Anchors Tactical Reset Huw Nightingale, 24, was a Beijing reserve; this cycle he earned a start after British Snowsport funnelled funding into relay synchronisation drills. Analysts praise his habit of “staying within touching distance” instead of gambling on high-risk passes that often crash. By avoiding board-to-board contact he preserved speed and left Bankes with options—an approach the programme now labels “contention-first racing.” Mixed Relay Shakes Up Broadcast Market The International Ski Federation introduced the event to narrow the gender gap in airtime; Friday’s Eurosport rating beat both individual races by 18 %. Board makers are testing softer torsional flex for better grip on standing starts, and media buyers already price 2030 relay rights 10–12 % higher. Federations from Australia to Germany are auditing budgets, weighing whether to fund relay-only riders instead of solo stars. Sources: British Snowsport High-Performance Plan 2026-30; FIS Mixed Team SBX Rulebook; Snowboard Cross Edge-Tech Database; Nielsen Olympic Viewership Report (Feb 2026); World Snowboard Training MOOC

Sydney Valentine · Snowboarding · 2026-02-21 18:10

Parallel Giant Slalom Olympic Future Backed by 70 Athletes

Athletes Launch #keepPGSolympic Push Ahead of 2026 Milano-Cortina Decision More than 70 active FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup riders and junior clubs from 12 nations have flooded Instagram with personal clips under the hashtag #keepPGSolympic, urging Olympic organisers to retain Parallel Giant Slalom for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games. Athletes Rally on Instagram After Ledecká Post The campaign began in December but accelerated after two-time Olympic champion Ester Ledecká posted a 30-second selfie from her Czech training base. “An amazing sport that definitely deserves to stay on the biggest stage,” she told her 260,000 followers. Within 10 days, riders from the United States, Korea, Japan, Canada and seven European countries had uploaded tributes, many filmed at dawn sessions or night training. Italian veteran Roland Fischnaller, 42, included footage of his eight-year-old twins weaving through poles; Bulgarian pioneer Radoslav Yankov stitched clips of the kids he coaches. Analytics firm CreatorIQ counted 1.1 million unique accounts reached by 24 February, a number organisers say rises “every time another federation reposts.” Low-Impact Event Pitched as Green Option Uwe Beier, the International Ski Federation’s snowboard alpine race director, says the discipline’s small footprint helps its Olympic case. A parallel course needs only 35 metres of vertical drop and “a hand-width of packed snow,” he told fis-ski.com, far less than the 80 cm of machine-made cover common on downhill slopes. Energy use drops in step: one World Cup in Austria last season consumed 18,000 kWh for snowmaking, against 125,000 kWh for the neighbouring downhill. FIS medical data list 0.6 serious injuries per 1,000 runs in parallel events, roughly half the snowboard-cross rate. Rogla Photo Finish Fuels Broadcast Case Television executives got a tidy highlight on 31 January at Slovenia’s Mt. Rogla. Korea’s Sangho Lee and Fischnaller crossed the men’s final finish line so tightly that organisers used a 3,000-frame-per-second camera to confirm Lee’s 0.003-second win—about the width of a glove. The clip drew 1.4 million views in 48 hours, outperforming every other Alpine World Cup highlight this winter. Sponsor Audi logged a 22% spike in brand mentions during the broadcast, a metric Olympic rights-holders will weigh when hearings begin this spring. Junior Funding Tied to Olympic Status National budgets still follow five-ring exposure. “If kids can’t dream of the Games, government grants vanish,” said Polish head coach Tomasz Mackiewicz, whose 40 teenagers posted a group video from a night session in Zakopane. China added snowboard parallel to its 2022 school curriculum only after the discipline appeared at PyeongChang 2018; participation has since tripled to 12,000 registered riders, the Chinese Ski Association reports. When ski-mountaineering was dropped after Sochi 2014, France cut youth funding 35% within a season—an echo riders fear could repeat. FIS Council to Rule in May The campaign is timed for the FIS council meeting in Vilnius on 19 May, when the federation will forward its final 2026 quota package to the IOC. Athletes plan to present social-media metrics plus a 15,000-signature petition gathered by grassroots clubs. They will also cite gender parity—women have raced the same distance and purse as men since 2014—and venue versatility: the temporary parallel course at Beijing 2022 was built, raced and removed in 14 days on a novice slope already slated for public use. [IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_0] Resources FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup calendar #keepPGSolympic Instagram collection “Power of Parallel” sustainability brief – FIS PDF Safe Slopes parent guide Source: FIS communications

Emily Brown · Snowboarding · 2026-02-21 11:47

Krynica PGS World Cup 2026: Key Stats and Favorites Preview

Krynica-Zdrój, Poland, hosts the tenth stop of the 2025-26 Visa FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup this weekend. The mountain spa town is the only venue on the circuit scheduled to run two Parallel Giant Slalom races—one for men, one for women—on consecutive days. Krynica Track Favors Austro-Italian Rivalry [IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_0] The 550 m course drops 135 m and has crowned the same nations since it debuted. Austrian veteran Andreas Prommegger owns both previous men’s PGS wins here, while Italy has placed at least one man on every podium. Roland Fischnaller turned that trend into victory last February, edging Prommegger by 0.11 s in the second run. On the women’s side, Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) and Tsubaki Miki (JPN) split the 2024 and 2025 double-headers, each win hinting at the crystal globe that would follow. Italian Men Lead Season, Not Olympics Italy has taken seven of eleven men’s Parallel races this winter—four different riders sharing wins—and swept the Carezzo podium 1-2-3. Yet none of those athletes medalled at February’s Milano-Cortina Games, extending a 24-year Olympic medal drought in the discipline. Aaron March tops the standings by 21 points over Maurizio Bormolini, giving the Azzurri a credible chance at a season-ending one-two finish. Miki Targets Back-to-Back Titles, Teen Zamfirova Surges [IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_1] Defending overall champion Tsubaki Miki enters the weekend 20 points ahead of Italy’s Elisa Caffont, aiming to become the first non-European woman to win consecutive Parallel titles. Sixteen-year-old Malena Zamfirova (BUL) sits tenth overall, the youngest rider ever to reach the top tier this late in a season. A Krynica podium would make her the first Bulgarian woman to reach a World Cup finals heat in any snowboard discipline. Rogla Upside Fuels Lee’s Push Korea’s Lee Sang-ho halted a 15-month European winning streak at the final pre-Olympic World Cup in Rogla, defeating Fischnaller and Fabian Obmann (AUT). The win lifted him to sixth overall and left the 2018 Olympic silver medallist as the only non-European inside the men’s top 15. None of the Rogla podium converted that speed into an Olympic medal three weeks later, so motivation runs high for redemption in Krynica. Title Scenarios Echo History [IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_2] No men’s Parallel season has ended without an Italian or Austrian in the top three since Switzerland swept the medals in 2005-06. With Benjamin Karl (AUT), owner of four crystal globes, stuck in 13th place, Bormolini or March could deliver Italy’s first men’s globe since 2011-12. On the women’s side, if Miki slips, Hofmeister could match Czech legend Ester Ledecka’s four-title total and become only the second woman to reach that mark. How to Watch and Follow Stream both PGS finals live on the European Broadcasting Union platform; check local listings for geoblock rules. Fantasy Snowboard League players often lock in Prommegger for Krynica points—his 2024-25 track record offers a high floor. Polish spectators arriving by train should exit at Krynica-Zdrój station; free shuttle buses depart every 15 min on race morning. Coaches scouting junior talent can request Friday open-training accreditation through the PZN (Polish Ski Association) portal before 18:00 CET Thursday. Source: Visa FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup media guide

John Smith · Snowboarding · 2026-02-18 11:21
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