Two Americans are hoping to take down the reigning world champion from New Zealand in the slopestyle finals. They’ll have to wait a bit longer.
WASHINGTON — The finals for women’s snowboarding slopestyle and the men’s freeski big air competitions at the 2026 Olympic Games have been scrubbed from Tuesday’s schedule after a snowstorm made competition impossible.
The heavy snowstorm rolled into Livigno, Italy Tuesday morning, shortly before the final for the slopestyle competition was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. local time (7 a.m. EST). A new date has not been announced for the event.
The men’s big air ski finals scheduled for later Tuesday was later pushed back as the storm rolled through. US athletes Mac Forehand, Troy Podmilsak and Konnor Ralph are all slated to compete in that event when it gets rescheduled.
It delays the chance for American snowboarders Lily Dhawornvej and Jessica Perlmutter to earn another medal for Team USA on the slopestyle course.
Perlmutter, of Vermont, is a first-time Olympian and also competed in the Big Air competition, where she finished 23rd. She’s also an accomplished skateboarder who competes in street skateboarding events, according to Team USA.
Dhawornvej, of Colorado, is also a first-time Olympian who finished 20th in Big Air. She’s a first-generation Thai-American who actively promotes diversity and inclusion in snowboarding.
It’s also pumped the brakes on New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott. The Kiwi snowboarder is the defending gold medalist, and qualified first in Sunday’s qualifier round.
That qualifier event was originally scheduled for Monday, but was moved up a day because of the storm rolling in.
Several other Olympic events were affected by the snowstorm, as qualifiers for both men’s and women’s freestyle aerials were scrubbed.
The women’s big air contest was delayed for more than an hour on Monday after a squall swept through the slope, with winds too dangerous to compete in. More than four inches of snow had fallen in Lavigno by noon on Tuesday.
By Wednesday, however, the forecast is looking up. The men’s slopestyle final is expected to take place then, and it doesn’t appear organizers will have to push that event back.
In slopestyle, riders perform tricks and jumps on a sloping course over ramps, rails and obstacles. The event debuted at the Sochi Olympics in 2024.
For big air, athletes ride down a slope toward a massive ramp, which they use to soar into the air and perform different aerial tricks before sticking the landing.
The Big Air discipline made its debut at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
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