Women's snowboard big air begins Sunday night in Italy with qualifying runs at Livigno Snow Park, and a few historic scenarios are at play.

Japan is a favorite for gold and could potentially complete a first-ever sweep of the event's podium. The nation finished 1st through 4th in the event at the 2025 World Championships, led by now-21-year-old Kokomo Murase.

Murase is the bronze medalist from the last Olympics. She's joined in Italy by countrywomen Reira Iwabuchi, who took 4th at the 2022 Games, and Mari Fukada, who finished 3rd behind Murase and Iwabuchi at 2025 Worlds.

In November, Murase posted a video on Instagram of her becoming the first woman to land a backside triple cork 1620. Two months later, she became the first woman to land it in a contest. We'll see if she decides to unleash the trick in Livigno.

Austria's Anna Gasser returns as the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist. No other rider has sat atop the podium since the event debuted at the 2018 Games. 

The 34-year-old underwent surgery last summer after dislocating her shoulder while surfing in Germany. She posted on Instagram in early November that she was back on snow, and returned to competition last month, finishing 3rd in slopestyle at the Laax Open. She's not quite the same force of nature she was eight years ago, or even four, but has hovered around the top five since Beijing and is only a year removed from winning big air at the 2025 Winter X Games.

If she is to attain the three-peat, Gasser would become the first snowboarder to win gold at three consecutive Olympics. Alpine snowboarder Ester Ledecka had a chance to accomplish the feat in parallel giant slalom (PGS) but lost in the quarterfinals. 

New Zealander Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, the Beijing Olympic gold medalist in slopestyle, is a serious big air contender having finished 2nd to Murase at last month's Winter X Games. She took bronze at the 2018 Games and silver in 2022; gold in Italy would be the natural next step in her medal progression.

Any podium spot would make the 24-year-old Kiwi snowboarding's second athlete to ever win four career Olympic medals. Austria's Benjamin Karl already became the first earlier on Sunday in men's PGS.

Mia Brookes, 19, of Great Britain won the 2023 world tile in slopestyle at age 16, becoming the youngest-ever snowboarding world champion. She did it by landing a cab 1440 double grab — the first woman to do so in official competition.

Despite the early success in slopestyle, big air has been Brookes' more consistent event, as evidenced by back-to-back Crystal Globes 2024 in 2025.

If Brookes pulls off the top spot, she'll become the first British snowboarder to ever win Olympic gold.

For the U.S., all the regulars are missing; two-time Olympian Hailey Langland is out with a torn ACL, Beijing slopestyle silver medalist Julia Marino has had recurring injuries, and three-time Olympic medalist Jamie Anderson did not qualify for the team.

Lily Dhawornvej, 16, gives the Americans perhaps their best shot, though it remains an unlikely storyline. She made her first World Cup podium last month, finishing 2nd in slopestyle at the Laax Open and has hovered around the top 10 in both slopestyle and big air. She'll be joined in qualifying by Hahna Norman of Truckee, California, and New Jerseyan Jessica Perlmutter, also 16 years old.

Each athlete will take three runs, performing one trick off a man-made jump. Scores are tallied by adding together each athlete's two best runs, which must feature different tricks in terms of rotation or direction. The top 12 advance to Monday's final.

Women's snowboard big air qualifying takes place Sunday, Feb. 8, at 1:30 p.m. ET. You can watch it live on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.