The Snowboarders To Watch At The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics

We’re so back.

It’s time for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina.

While most of us around here think about snowboarding from sunup to sundown, the rest of the world only tunes in every four years.

If that sounds like you, welcome! Hopefully, you fall in love and become a life-long fan. Maybe we’ll even see you on a chairlift in the near future.

If you’re new to the world of contest snowboarding–whether that’s because you’re typically watching football or snowboarding video parts—the Olympics can be daunting.

Here are some of the riders I’m most looking forward to watching this year. They can’t all take home a gold medal, but let’s hope for some really memorable moments at the very least.

Chloe Kim (USA)

This is an obvious choice. The queen of the halfpipe has a chance to hit the three-peat. She is going to have to overcome a recent shoulder injury suffered while training for the Laax Open to do so.

Maddie Mastro (USA)

The Mammoth-based rider is headed to her third Olympics. She’s also returning from a foot injury that kept her out of The Snow League’s stop in China at the end of last year. Most importantly, though, her mental game is miles ahead of what it was in previous years. She’s a few years older, wiser, and enjoying snowboarding a lot more. Be on the lookout for her signature crippler.

Ayumu Hirano (Japan)

Hirano used to struggle to spin switch backside. His win at The Snow League’s last stop showed that it looks like he might have gotten that flaw under control. After a huge bail at the Laax Open, it’s not a sure thing that he’ll be in the pipe for the Olympics. As fans of snowboarding, we can only hope.

Scotty James (Australia)

He has the silver, he has the bronze, and he now has a Netflix documentary that has showed us just how badly he wants Olympic gold. He just locked up the crown for most decorated halfpipe rider in the X Games, overcoming Shaun White and Chloe Kim with his win in Aspen at the end of January. Keep an eye out for a switch backside 1440 into a backside 1440, which had never been landed in a competition until he put it down at X.

Alessandro Barbieri (USA)

The Portland native is of Italian descent, and usually shouts something in Italian at the top of the pipe in Italian that I can’t usually understand. Bottom line is this guy is used to quality pasta, and he’ll be looking to shakeup the podium.

Faye Gulini Thelen (USA)

To be both a mother of two and a professional snowboarder is incredibly hard. That’s why we’ve given Jamie Anderson so much love throughout her return to her board, which started just four months after giving birth to her second daughter Nova Sky.

Well, Thelen is also a mother of two, and had a similar timeline for her own return to snow. This will be her fourth Olympics, and while, yes, she would like to take home her first medal, she is most concerned with setting the best example possible for her young children.

Nick Baumgartner (USA)

This man is back again. The most famous snowboarder from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula got a taste of gold last year, when he won snowboard cross combined with Lindsey Jacobellis, who also had yet to win Olympic gold. It was a powerful moment, as two incredibly accomplished riders finally reached the apex of the Olympics. Here’s hoping for round two this year. This is his fifth Olympic Games.

Taiga Hasegawa (Japan)

The man has a switch backside 2140 in his bag, and he makes it look stylish, too. Hasegawa struggled a bit on the rails portion of the X Games, but is not to be overlooked for either a big air or slopestyle podium spot.

Kokomo Murase (Japan)

The first woman to land a 1620 in a contest basically has big air locked up, so long as she can execute the trick with her typical style.

Hahna Norman (USA)

She's not a favorite in either big air or slopestyle, but she's stylish as can be on her board. She's also gritty, as she's overcome a knee injury to qualify for the 2026 Games, and has risen through the ranks so quickly that no one is entirely sure what to expect out of her runs.

Mia Brookes (Great Britain)

Brookes has dominated slopestyle in the past couple of years. She won an FIS Crystal Globe last season, and X Games gold this year. She definitely isn’t a lock for gold, but she’s probably your favorite snowboarder’s pick for the top spot on the podium.

Lily Dhawornvej (USA)

It’s not a matter of if we’ll see a tame dog, but rather, a matter of when we’ll see a tame dog, and off of which feature. Her friends and teammates call her Dice, because sometimes, she just likes to roll them and try whatever new trick she’s feeling that day. That’s not typically something Olympic judges like to see, but if it’s executed well enough, it’ll be appropriately rewarded for sure.

Su Yiming (China)

Su dazzled the crowd at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. Then he battled inuries, and struggled a bit on the FIS circuit. He came back this season with a vengeance, and has dominated the contest scene in both Big Air and Slopestyle.

Jess Perlmutter (USA)

The slopestyle field is crowded, for sure. However, few riders can attack the rails portion of the slopestyle course with such surgical precision. 

Marcus Kleveland (Norway)

It’s hard to believe, but Kleveland does not yet have a gold medal at the Olympics. He’s leaning away from spin-to-win in the recent years, so if the conditions on a contest day prove to be making it more difficult for riders to put together their typical run, Kleveland has enough nollies and nose butters in his bag to wow the judges in any conditions.

Mark McMorris (Canada)

Sparky doesn’t yet have Olympic gold. Sparky wants Olympic gold. Those close to him say he’s pushed himself more than ever, these past few years, and he’s even learned a 1440, which he laid down under pressure in his last X Games run of the day to rocket from the bottom of the pack to first place, on his way to win a gold medal.

Red Gerard (USA)

Robbed of a medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics thanks to a knee-grab, Gerard is back to his third Olympics as just a 25 year old. He’s riding really, really well right now, and has reduced his time in the backcountry at the end of last season to focus on training for the Olympics.

Øyvind Kirkhus (Norway)

The 23 year old from Norway finished in second place at the Rockstar Energy Open at Breckenridge, and just barely missed the podium at X Games in January. He’s a dark horse in a crowded slopestyle field for sure. He’s also riding with the kind of style Norway is known for. He grew up working as a lifty at a Norwegian indoor snow dome, and is the only person that I know of to land a quad cork on a broken board.

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (New Zealand)

In 2022, Sadowski-Synnott became the first became the first woman to land back-to-back double corks. She then became the first woman to land a triple cork 1440 in a slopestyle contest in the 2025 S Games. It’s less of a question of whether she’ll medal, and more of a question of which medal she’ll take home.