The Opening Ceremony of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics is still a day away, but the Winter Games are already rolling across northern Italy. From freestyle qualifiers in Livigno to blistering downhill training runs in Bormio, the early storylines are taking place even before the flame is lit in Milan.
Livigno: Men’s Snowboard Big Air Qualifying Delivers
The first official Olympic results came in Livigno, where the men’s snowboard Big Air qualifiers were contested under a three-run format, with riders counting their best two scores.
Japan’s Ogiwara Hiroto set the benchmark early and never looked back. He became the first rider to crack the 90-point mark, landing a massive switch backside 1980 for 90.5 on his opening run. A backside 1800 Indy on run two scored 88, giving him a commanding combined score of 178.50, nearly 15 points clear of the rest of the field. Japan had a total of four snowboarders qualify for Saturday’s finals, with Kimura Kira in third with 173.25 points, Hasegawa Taiga in fifth with 172.25 points, and Kimata Ryoma in 10th with 164.75 points.
Second strongest nation in terms of qualifiers is the wonder from down under: New Zealand, which managed to have three athletes qualify for the finals: Lyon Farrell, Rocco Jamieson, and Dane Menzies. Meanwhile, qualifying in 9th for Team USA, we have Oliver Martin, and Australia saw Valentino Guseli advance in 12th place to the finals. Three-time Olympic medallist Mark McMorris from Canada did not compete after crashing in training earlier in the week.
The men’s big air final will take place Saturday night, February 7, starting at 7:30 p.m. CET local time or 11:30 a.m. Mountain Time, under the lights in Livigno.
Bormio: Downhillers Open the Throttle
Over in Bormio, the world’s fastest alpine skiers have been testing the legendary Stelvio course ahead of Saturday’s men’s downhill. The first training day on February 4 saw Team USA’s Ryan Cochran-Siegle with the fastest training run, while rising star Giovanni Franzoni, who claimed his first career victory just last week, was in close second, just 0.16 behind RCS. Marco Odermatt, the current overall standings leader, had the third-fastest time, 0.40 seconds behind the American. Meanwhile, Norwegian Frederik Möller suffered a shocking crash that saw the Norwegian helicoptered off the Stelvio race course. The Norwegian Team later updated that Møller had suffered a dislocated left shoulder. According to national team doctor Trond Floberghagen, the treatment went well, and the medical team will begin further rehabilitation. “It is too early to say anything more about Fredrik’s further participation in the Olympic Games,” Floberhagen added.
On training day 2, it was Italy’s Mattia Casse who topped the timesheets, while Franzoni backed up his previous strong first training day with a third place, putting the 24-year-old firmly in contention for a podium at Saturday’s race. Rounding out the all-Italian top three was Florian Schieder with the second-fastest second training time. Meanwhile, the crash series continued with Austria’s Daniel Hemetsberger, whose crash looked frightening, but, according to the Austrian team doctor, resulted only in a bloody nose and some “facial discomfort,” which is apparently a fancy way of saying he feels like he’s been smacked in the face by the Terminator—he certainly looked that way. Nevertheless, Hemetsberger is said to compete in Saturday’s downhill.
While training times don’t count for medals, early speed in Bormio is rarely accidental. With the Stelvio’s relentless compressions, blind jumps, and technical upper section, confidence here matters—and Cochran-Siegle’s early pace suggests the U.S. could be firmly in the mix for a podium. A third training run is scheduled for Friday, February 6. The downhill race will be held on Saturday, February 7, at 11:30 CET / 3:30 a.m. MT. Team USA currently has five men training: River Radamus, Sam Morse, Bryce Bennett, Kyle Negomir, as well as Cochran-Siegle, however, it will only be able to send four into the race on Saturday. A team announcement will be made following the third training run. Radamus will most likely not make the cut as he had the slowest training runs on both Wednesday and Thursday. Radamus is typically stronger in giant slalom and super-G and will only function as the reserve in case of injury. Canada, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy all have five skiers in training ahead of the actual race on Saturday.
Cortina: Weather Slows Women’s Downhill Prep
In Cortina d’Ampezzo, preparations for the women’s downhill were delayed after the first official training run was cancelled due to snowfall, forcing athletes to wait for improved conditions on the Olympia delle Tofane course. The compressed training schedule raises the stakes for the remaining sessions as racers search for rhythm on one of the tour’s most technical tracks, and final team decisions are being made. Team USA currently has six women attending downhill training: Lindsey Vonn, Breezy Johnson, Jacqui Wiles, Bells Wright, Keely Cashman, and Mary Bocock. The only other nation with six women is Italy, while Switzerland has five attending training. The women will hopefully have a successful training run on Friday and Saturday, as a minimum of one training run is mandatory ahead of a downhill race.
Meanwhile in Curling—you know that sport everyone thinks they could be doing but actually requires skills and balance most of us don’t possess—Canada and Britain advanced in the mixed doubles round-robin undefeated.
With Big Air finals set and the men’s speed specialists flying down the race course in training, things are starting to get real for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics.
