Snowboarding continues at Milan Cortina 2026 with the men’s and women’s snowboard cross contests. Though sport veterans are the favored medal contenders, the unpredictability of the competition lends itself to possible upsets from newcomers.

These Games mark the sixth time the discipline has been contested at the Winter Olympics since its debut at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. In the qualifying round, riders individually race down the 1,110-meter (around 3,641-foot) course. The top 32 athletes advance to the knockout rounds, where four athletes compete in each race. The top two athletes of each knockout race advance to the next round.

Here’s what could go down in Livigno…

Canadian Eliot Grondin has been the most consistent rider in the field. He’s the reigning 2025 world champion and claimed back-to-back Crystal Globes the past two seasons. Although he hasn’t competed often in the past few months, Grondin is still the podium favorite. He could win Canada’s first gold medal in the event after just missing it in a photo finish at the Beijing Games. He claimed silver in the individual event and bronze in the mixed team contest.

The French were on the podium at every Games until Beijing in 2022, when Merlin Surget led the country to finish 16th at best. Since then, Surget has posted two top-ten World Cup finishes this season.

French Loan Bozzolo and brother duo Aidan and Jonas Chollet could also be in medal contention, with Bozzolo placing 2nd at the 2025 world championships. Aidan Chollet clinched three podiums this season, while his younger brother, Jonas Chollet, had a surprise World Cup win in December that solidified his spot on the French Olympic team.

Austrian veteran Alessandro Haemmerle, the defending Olympic gold medalist who prevailed over Grondin in the photo finish in Beijing, is likely to be in the podium mix after placing 3rd at the 2025 world championships.

Nick Baumgartner, Nathan Pare, Jake Vedder and Cody Winters will be representing the United States. At 44, Baumgartner is competing in his fifth Winter Olympics.

"I’m lucky to have the longevity that I have," Baumgartner said, recounting his evolution over the 16 years since his Olympic debut at the Vancouver Games in 2010. "I cut corners, didn’t do everything I could, but I had time to learn from those mistakes. I believe there is no one who works harder than I do. I’ve learned that if you do everything you can, and you cut no corners, if you fall short of that goal, you can live with that."

Michela Moioli could lead Italy to an Olympic title on home turf. Moioli, the Olympic gold medalist at the PyeongChang Games in 2018, is poised to improve upon her 8th-place finish at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Her experience is coming in clutch ahead of her fourth Games: She won her first world title last season and has finished in the top ten at every World Cup appearance since March 2024.

Another rider making her fourth Olympic appearance is Charlotte Bankes, who switched from representing France to Great Britain after the 2018 Winter Olympics. Although a broken collarbone at the final World Cup event last season delayed her training this season, her experience can lead her to her first Olympic medal. Since switching teams, she’s snagged the 2021 world title and two Crystal Globes.

With the uncertainty of the event, two-time Olympic medalists Czech Eva Adamczykova and Chloe Trespeuch of France could find themselves on a third Olympic podium. French newcomer Lea Casta, the 2025 Crystal Globe winner, could also be in the mix for a medal.

Americans Stacy Gaskill, Brianna Schnorrbusch, Hanna Percy and Faye Thelen will be competing. Defending Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Jacobellis stepped away from snowboarding this season and will not be competing in Livigno.

Watch to see whether Grondin can clinch his first Olympic title when the men's snowboard cross qualifying starts at 4 a.m. ET, followed by finals at 7:45 a.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 12.

Women drop in for their qualifying races at 4 a.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 13, with finals at 7:30 a.m. ET the same day. They can be seen on NBCOlympics.com and Peacock.