Huw Nightingale was all smiles as he finished after his snowboard cross outing in Livingo, but he quickly made it known that the tears will be shed. Just later, and in private.
The 24-year-old did not quite hit his mark in Livigno, missing out on progressing to the quarter-finals after finishing fourth in the 1/8 stage of the competition.
It was looking bright for Nightingale early on, clocking the 10th fastest time in the seeding runs that morning.
But in a heat that saw the reigning Olympic champion Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria take the tape, before going on to successfully defend his title, Nightingale paid the price for a slow start.
Having smartly moved up to third through an overtake and looking like he was pushing on to reach second, which would have qualified him for the quarter-finals, disaster struck in the form of an unexpected bump and he was forced to exit the competition early.
“I think I’ll have a little cry in my bed tonight,” he said.
“It was a tough one. Pulling out of the gate I didn’t have the best start but then I knew that I was fast further down the bottom.
“I felt like I did the turns really well and I was carrying loads of speed but then just in turn five I just couldn’t see. I hit a bump and then that was it.”
The cause of Nightingale’s loss of sight can be whittled down to a sudden drop in visibility and a pick up of wind just minutes before he was set to race, with snow whipping around the Livigno Snow Park.
And despite all four of the athletes encountering the same conditions, it was Nightingale who saw the highest cost.
“Before I dropped it just completely changed,” he said.
“I was pretty set on it being bad weather, and I don’t mind the bad weather, it’s just I couldn’t see and there was a bump there.”
Despite a disappointing start to his second Olympics in Italy, Nightingale is not done yet.
The border cross athlete still has his best event yet to come: the mixed team event.
Nightingale and teammate Charlotte Bankes won gold at the World Championships in the event back in 2023 and took a World Cup victory back in December.
Having now got a feel for the terrain in his individual event and brushed the nerves off, Nightingale will be hoping for the magic to finally take hold on Sunday.
“For the team event, I kind of came in knowing that that was the thing that I was going for,” he said.
“I’m excited to race it and hopefully me and Charlotte have had a fun weekend.”
Sportsbeat 2026
