Snowboarding at Milan Cortina 2026 is kicking off with one of the stiffest fields in the sport: men’s big air. Heavy hitters from many different countries, including the United States, will be stomping gravity-defying tricks off a 25-meter (approximately 82-foot) kicker at Livigno Snow Park when the qualifying round gets underway on Thursday, Feb. 5.

The field, which will consist of as many as 30 riders, will be narrowed down to 12 ahead of the final on Saturday, Feb. 7. Here's what to know about some of the top names in the field.

China's Su Yiming has returned to defend his gold medal from the 2022 Beijing Games. He's continued to be a dominant force in big air, winning both World Cup events he competed in this season. While he reportedly has his eyes set on landing a 2340 (six-and-a-half spins) in competition — a feat only Japan's Hiroto Ogiwara has accomplished — it remains to be seen if the big air jump in Livigno will allow for any competitor to attempt that trick. Instead, athletes may be more likely to attempt 1980s and 2160s with varying rotations and grabs.

Norway's Mons Roisland, the 2022 Olympic silver medalist, is also in the field for the Milan Cortina Games.

Although he hasn’t officially retired, Beijing bronze medalist Max Parrot has not competed since the 2022 Winter Olympics and will not be competing in Livigno.

Red Gerard and Sean FitzSimons return to the American men’s Olympic snowboarding team alongside newcomers Jake Canter and Ollie Martin. Gerard, who won gold in slopestyle at the 2018 Winter Olympics when he was 17 years old, has placed 5th in each of his two Olympic big air appearances. Because slopestyle requires athletes to be well-rounded in technical and creative tricks, athletes are able to transfer their skills to big air.

"I'm just trying to get back to that 17-year-old self," Gerard said. "I know what it takes. I feel like I'm riding the best I ever have in a lot of ways, just doing the tricks that I know how to do and not worrying about the judges."

Martin is the youngest of the four but may bring the most heat. He’s the youngest snowboarder to land both a frontside and backside 2160. Last season — his first year on the pro competition circuit — Martin became the youngest male rider to win a World Cup slopestyle event.

“Everything I’ve wanted since a kid has come to fruition,” Martin said. “Getting World Cup podiums somewhat consistently, and being here is already a dream come true.”

Martin’s riding is so impressive that Gerard isn’t looking to give him any advice for his first Games.

“Ollie’s his own beast and I look up to him,” Gerard said of Martin. "I look at what Ollie does, and I'm like, 'Yo, how do I do that? That's insane.' I think it's a friendly push off each other and that's the amazing part about snowboarding.

Japan has the deepest lineup in snowboard big air, as five of the current top seven riders on the World Snowboard Points list are Japanese. Taiga Hasegawa, Ryoma Kimata, Kira Kimura and Ogiwara are the top four Japanese men who qualified for this event — and each is as dangerous as the next.

Kimata and Hasegawa went 1-2 in big air at the 2025 World Championships in Engadin, Switzerland, with Hasegawa also becoming the first rider to stomp 1980s in all four directions (frontside, backside, switch frontside and switch backside) in 2023. Kimura finished 2nd at two World Cup events this season. Just two weeks ago, Ogiwara landed a 2340 and won X Games big air gold for the second year in a row.

Although 2018 Olympic big air champion Sebastien Toutant and Parrot are not returning, the Canadians are not to be overlooked, as Eli Bouchard, Francis Jobin and Cameron Spalding are set to make their Olympic debuts in Livigno. 

“It’s amazing to experience this together. It’s definitely everyone’s dream,” Bouchard said of being at the Olympics with Jobin and Spalding. He knows how stiff the competition is, though.

“The field these days is so deep. There are so many guys out here that could do it,” Spalding said of his competitors. “But, I'd like to put my name in that conversation.”

Bouchard is known for his inventive tricks such as the triple moose flip, though the jury is still out on the exact rotation this trick is.

Mark McMorris, the final rider named to Canada's team, is the sole seasoned member of the quartet. On Feb. 4, the Canadian Olympic Committee released a statement sharing that McMorris had a 'heavy crash' during big air training, and media reports said that he had to be taken off the mountain via stretcher.

Prior to his crash, McMorris had a shaky start to the season until he won the slopestyle event at X Games Aspen two weeks ago. After winning bronze in slopestyle at three straight Olympics, McMorris has been aiming to win gold in Livigno.

Dane Menzies of New Zealand may be the dark horse of big air. He burst into the spotlight this season after finishing in the top five at his last two World Cup appearances across slopestyle and big air.

"I love it," Menzies said of being viewed as a potential underdog. "Not as much pressure from the outside, I guess. Not everyone's looking at you, so you can kind of pull up from behind, and show out. I like it."

If Menzies' trajectory is anything to go by, he could find himself atop the Olympic podium in the next few days.

Norway's Marcus Kleveland is highly regarded as one of the most stylish snowboarders. He helped popularize the knuckle huck discipline (not contested at the Olympics) in which riders only perform one trick. Instead of hurling off one large jump as in big air, snowboarders ride over the jump's knuckle, launching themselves over the slope of the jump's base. The focus on style and technique demanded by knuckle huck could help boost Kleveland through to the Olympic final.

"I’m very excited. The past two Olympics haven’t really been top notch for me, but I’m really excited to get this started," Kleveland said. He placed 18th at PyeongChang 2018 and 8th at Beijing 2022 in big air. "It’s been 10 years since I first got my World Cup podium or World Cup victory, so hopefully this is a third-time chance [at a first Olympic win]."

Finland's Rene Rinnekangas is another versatile and creative rider known for his out-of-the-box tricks. He was the first to land a backside 1980 (five and half rotations) in competition and posted a pair of top-five big air finishes this season. The smooth, technical skills that won him the knuckle huck competition at X Games Aspen last month will come in handy in Livigno.

Men’s snowboard big air qualifying starts at 1:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 5 and can be seen live on NBCOlympics.com and Peacock.