2026 Olympics, snowboarding: Matteoli in the final of the men’s Big Air

Ian Matteoli responds immediately and lights up Livigno at the start of this Olympics. The Italian born in 2005 wins a place in the Olympic category final on 7 February thanks to his second time in the men’s Big Air qualifiers. It begins with a backside 1985 switch landed safely, flying very high and maintaining the grab until the end: a spectacular technical gesture that immediately ignites the Italian public and which is rewarded with 93.75 points, the highest score of the entire evening which saw 30 athletes involved. In the second run, Matteoli presents a clean cab nose butter 1440, enough to virtually guarantee him access to the final and to place him behind the Japanese Hiroto Ogiwara. On the third run the Italian does the same trick again, improving his total and securing second position with 174.50 points, four points behind the Japanese. Behind them, another Japanese athlete, Kira Kimura, closes the qualifying podium with 173.25.

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“I am very satisfied both on a technical and mental level – confirmed the young Italian after the end of the qualifiers – we have worked a lot in the last few weeks to arrive here at the Olympics in these conditions”. The Snowboard Big Air final is scheduled for Saturday 7 February at 7.30pm and Matteoli will start second to last, a significant advantage for observing his opponents’ choices and calibrating his own set of tricks: “I have many other things that I want to bring to the final – he assured – to guarantee myself a higher score. I definitely want to think about it for a moment and discuss with the staff to get the best picture and get as high as possible”. Surely now, after having obtained the highest score ever on the qualifying evening, the dream of a medal becomes possible: “But there is still a lot to do and I know that there are many athletes who still have to show their best, so nothing is certain for anyone until the final.” But now, for Ian, dreaming is really possible.