Snowboard at Milano Cortina 2026: What are the rules, events, and who are the Team GB prospects?
Who are Team GB’s best medal hopes in Milano Cortina?
Video credit: TNT Sports
Using the words ‘sick’, ‘rad’ and ‘shreddin’ would not have been standard for a Winter Olympics commentator three decades ago – but that all started to change when snowboard made its Games debut in 1998.
Since its introduction in Nagano, the sport has exploded to become one of the most diverse and thrilling in the Olympic programme, and Team GB are playing a major role in the party.
Snowboarding features speed, skill and tricks – add to that the traditional rivalry with skiing, and we have something very tasty indeed.
It was not until the 1990s that ski resorts around the world properly started to accept snowboarding, but you would be hard-pressed to avoid it now.
Since making its debut at the Olympics, the USA has been far and away the most successful country with 35 medals in total. The next nation really does not come close – lagging some 18 medals behind are Canada.
Team GB first made the podium at Sochi 2014, when Jenny Jones became the first British athlete to win an Olympic snowboarding medal by claiming bronze in the slopestyle competition, before Billy Morgan followed that four years later with a third-place finish in big air.
Olympic throwback: White’s superb final run secures third halfpipe gold
Video credit: TNT Sports
One of the sport’s biggest stars, Chloe Kim, will be at Milano Cortina 2026 – live on TNT Sports and discovery+ – having battled back from injury.
She made history as the youngest woman to win Olympic snowboard gold in Pyeongchang, and followed that up with gold in Beijing four years ago.
Czechia’s Ester Ledecka – who secured a remarkable double in 2018 when she became the first person to win two gold medals at the same Winter Games in different sports, claiming titles in both alpine skiing and snowboard – is also set to star. The 30-year-old won parallel giant slalom gold in Beijing.
There will be 11 snowboard events in Milano Cortina.
Team GB snowboard participants and medal prospects
Charlotte Bankes is arguably Britain’s best chance of a snowboard medal in Milano Cortina, following an impressive few years.
The snowboard cross athlete won a brilliant gold at the World Championships in 2021 and followed that up with World Cup titles in Bakuriani and Montafon. She will be a feared opponent at the Games.
The Hemel Hempstead native won silver at last year’s World Championships and took five gold medals in the 2024/25 World Cup, before a memorable gold in Dongbeiya.
Bankes storms to sublime gold medal in Dongbeiya
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Mia Brookes, just 19, is an exciting prospect, having won gold in slopestyle at the 2023 World Championships, as well as two golds at the Winter X Games.
Meanwhile, at his second Winter Games, Huw Nightingale will be hoping to add yet more success to his family’s rich sporting history, after his cousin Matt Rotherham won cycling gold at the Tokyo Paralympics.
On the global stage, Chloe Kim made history by becoming the youngest woman to win Olympic snowsport gold with her halfpipe title in Pyeongchang, aged 17. She repeated the trick at the 2019 and 2021 World Championships, and won gold again in Beijing.
One of the biggest stories of the 2018 Games revolved around Ester Ledecka of Czechia, who became the first person ever to win golds in two separate sports at the Winter Olympics, claiming the Super-G ski title as well as snowboard’s parallel giant slalom. She followed that up with another gold four years later, and she will be aiming for a third in a row in Italy.
‘What an athlete, remarkable!’ – Dominant Ledecka wins third Olympic gold
Video credit: TNT Sports
Snowboard events and format
There will be 11 snowboard events at the Games. They are:
- Parallel Giant Slalom (men/women)
- Snowboard Cross (men/women)
- Halfpipe (men/women)
- Slopestyle (men/women)
- Big Air (men/women)
- Mixed Team Snowboard Cross
GB duo Bankes and Nightingale come from behind to win mixed team World Cup gold
Video credit: TNT Sports
How the medals are settled depends on the discipline. Halfpipe, big air and slopestyle are all judged on a number of criteria, including the amount of air an athlete gets, their landing and the difficulty.
The other competitions are all races, while the snowboard cross involves jumps, too, though these are obstacles in the battle to the line.
Snowsport venue
Livigno Snow Park will host the snowboard events at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
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Watch every event of Milano Cortina 2026 live on discovery+. Available across all subscription plans, starting at £3.99.
