All aboard for snowboarding at Milano-Cortina 2026

The origins of snowboarding go back to Christmas Day 1965, when an engineer named Sherman Poppen strapped two skis together to give his daughters something to do.

Jake Burton came along, refined the toy and helped turn snowboarding into a mass market sport. Along the way, superstars like Shaun White and Chloe Kim have redefined what could be done with the boards, and the sport is always reinventing itself. Here's what to expect at the Winter Olympics.

How it works

There are three snowboarding events in what's called the park ( halfpipe, slopestyle and big air) and two more that involve racing (snowboardcross and parallel giant slalom).

The park contests are the core of the sport. They are judged events that include qualifying and finals where riders are scored on the complexity of their tricks and how high they fly.

Snowboardcross is a rugged form of four-wide racing down a winding course and PGS is the closest this sport has to Alpine skiing.

Who to watch

All eyes are on Kim's recovery from a torn shoulder labrum to see if she can win an unprecedented third straight title in the halfpipe.

On the men's side, the best rider standing in the way of Japanese star Ayumu Hirano's repeat bid on the pipe is Australian Scotty James.

Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic is the GOAT and two-time defending champion in parallel giant slalom.

American Red Gerard, the 2018 slopestyle champion, is in good form and looking for a return to the podium after finishing fourth at Beijing 2022.

Venues and dates

All of the action is at Livigno Snow Park with big air taking place from Feb 5-9, parallel giant slalom on Feb 8, halfpipe from Feb 11-13, snowboardcross on Feb 13 and 15, and slopestyle running from Feb 16-18.

Memorable moments

This sport truly put itself on the map when the American trio of Ross Powers, Danny Kass and JJ Thomas swept the halfpipe podium in 2002 at the Salt Lake Games. The sport then belonged to White, whose third gold medal in 2018 in a narrow victory over Hirano stands out as one of the most dramatic contests the sport has seen. White retired after finishing fourth in an emotional farewell at the 2022 Games.

Fun facts

The Olympics added snowboarding to its winter program in 1998. One of its first champions, Ross Rebagliati, played right into the "snowboard dude" stereotype when he had his medal stripped after testing positive for cannabis, a decision that was later overturned on appeal.

Agencies Via Xinhua