Freeski continues at Milan Cortina 2026 with the women’s and men’s ski cross competitions, which are contested for only the fifth time after debuting at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Ski cross was added to the Olympic schedule four years after snowboard cross was introduced at the Torino Games in 2006.

Thirty-two athletes will race against the clock during individual runs in the seeding rounds. The skiers then proceed to four-skier heats in the knockout rounds, with the top two racers advancing to the next round.

Here's what we could expect to see in Livigno...

Canada has been on all four of the Olympic women’s ski cross podiums and leads the all-time medal count in the competition across both men's and women's contests. But injuries across the Canadian team could put the country’s dominance in jeopardy.

Flagbearer Marielle Thompson is responsible for two of Canada’s six medals after earning gold at Sochi in 2014 and silver at Beijing in 2022. She was a stronghold until she tore her LCL at a World Cup event in February 2025. Since then, Thompson has had a shaky start to the season but could still end up on the podium after two top-three finishes at World Cup events last month.

Hannah Schmidt and Brittany Phelan will also be representing Canada after teammates India Sherret and Courtney Hoffos were sidelined with knee injuries in December. Although Schmidt has found the podium twice out of 11 competitions this season, Phelan’s best season finish so far was 6th at a World Cup event in December.

With Canada’s uncertain medal prospects, Sandra Naeslund of Sweden is a medal favorite. She could become the first ski cross athlete to successfully defend her Olympic title after winning an impressive five out of the eight World Cup contests she’s competed in this season.

The rest of the podium from the Beijing Games, co-bronze medalists Swiss Fanny Smith and Germany’s Daniela Maier, could find themselves with another medal. Smith is the reigning world champion and Maier is currently ranked world No. 2.

The French could shake up the races. Marielle Berger Sabbatel and Mylene Ballet Baz are ranked world No. 3 and No. 5 and both reached their first World Cup podium on home soil in December.

The U.S. has never competed in this event.

Reece Howden of Canada is the heavy gold medal favorite on the men’s side. He’s currently the top ranked man in ski cross, winning four World Cup contests this season with three of them back-to-back in December.

Italian Simone Deromedis is hot on Howden’s heels. He finished 5th at the Beijing Games when he won the small final after narrowly missing a spot in the big final. He won his first world title in 2023 and is fresh off winning a World Cup contest three weeks ago.

Ryan Regez of Switzerland is the defending Olympic gold medalist and reigning world champion but has had a slow start to the season. He hadn’t found a podium until finishing first at the National Championships in Veysonnaz, Switzerland last month.

Regez’s teammate Alex Fiva could have a better shot at improving upon his silver medal from the Beijing Games. He’s consistently posted better finishes this season and could give Howden and Deromedis a run for their money.

Swedish brother duo David and Erik Mobaerg could also be in the medal mix after hovering around the podium ever since the 2022 Winter Olympics, where Erik Mobaerg ended 4th. Their sister, Linnea Mobaerg, is making her Olympic debut in the women’s ski cross event.

No Americans will be competing in the men’s ski cross event.

Find out if Canada can land atop of a fifth consecutive Olympic podium when the women’s ski cross seeding rounds begin at 4 a.m. ET, shortly followed by the knockout races at 5:55 a.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 20. The men’s ski cross contest begins at the same time on Saturday, Feb. 21. All events can be seen live on NBCOlympics.com and Peacock.