Canadian snowboarder Liam Brearley will miss the upcoming 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics after undergoing knee surgery that will sideline him for the entire season.

Brearley, 22, sustained knee and ankle injuries in November. In an Instagram post, he shared he’d spent the past few weeks exploring different treatment options before electing to have the surgery.

“That’s a tough reality to accept,” Brearley said in the post. “Competing on that [Olympic] stage has been a lifelong dream, and missing it hurts more than I can put into words.”

Brearley is currently ranked No. 1 in men’s slopestyle on the World Snowboard Points List and would have been a medal contender at the Winter Olympics. His first major contest victory came at the 2024 Laax Open, and he’s racked up a growing list of accolades since then, including winning the World Cup season title in 2024 and world championship gold in 2025. 

He’s also a three-time Youth Olympic medalist, having earned a medal in all three park and pipe disciplines at the 2020 Games.

“The focus now is recovery and coming back stronger than before,” Brearley said. “I’m not going anywhere, and I’m more motivated than ever.”

Despite the news, Canada should still field a strong slopestyle team with 2025 World Cup champion Cameron Spalding leading the charge. Three-time Olympic medalist Mark McMorris and the up-and-coming Eli Bouchard are among the riders in the mix for one of the other spots on the Olympic team.