Milano Cortina Olympics: women's snowboard cross (13-02-2026)

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This time my journey begins the night before: I spend the night in Sondrio, as the alternatives were to leave at 5 a.m. or even earlier, or to give up watching the qualifiers. On the train, they remind us that in Tirano we can take the shuttle buses to Bormio and Livigno, even though we arrive at midnight and, obviously, there are no shuttle buses at that time. With every announcement, they repeat that the train is running for the Olympics and conclude with “Happy Olympics”. I think that if I regularly took this train for other reasons, all these references to the Olympics would annoy me greatly.

The next day, the train is still almost empty, mostly with people travelling for different reasons, but the shuttle is packed. We arrive after an hour and a half, quite suddenly: I hadn’t seen a car park, it feels as if we’re stopping by the side of the road. Right after, the slopestyle and aerials slopes come into view, but the snowboard cross course is only visible once inside the area. This time, the distance from the shuttle stop to the entrance, as indicated on the website (400 metres), is actually slightly overestimated. At the entrance, they remind us that if we leave, we can’t re-enter (so during the break you can’t go to the Fan Zone, which I saw as we passed, with lots of food kiosks) and that in the upper seats, no food or drinks are sold. Luckily, this last bit doesn’t concern me because this time I have a category A seat, in what’s called the “terrace”: still standing, but at the bottom of the slope.

I look for the best spot: in the end, I settle on the second step (out of four), a little behind the edge. Most of the crowd are Swiss, then Czechs, French (next to me there’s a large group of Nirani-Pereira fans, recognisable by their bibs), Austrians and Americans. I also spot a group of Australians with their inflatable kangaroos, but only at lunch and especially later in the afternoon do I realise how many there are: during the break I even meet two, father and son, dressed as kangaroos. There’s also a group of Hungarian-speaking Romanians, supporters of Mandel. The Italians seem few and calm. When Moioli starts, she’s welcomed rather tepidly, although later I spot her fan club with their bibs; Groblechner seems to have more support.

When the first athletes set off, I realise I can see roughly half the course: the final straight after the jump, and the penultimate straight, but not the last bend. Earlier, for about 35 seconds of the 1:12 run (for the fastest), you can see partially, often just the top half of the athletes, and before that you see the safety net, but not the course, which is sloped the other way. Compared to alpine skiing, it’s a bit easier to tell who’s doing well and who isn’t, as you can judge from their arm movements if someone is at risk of falling (as well as getting a sense of speed from the length of the jumps). The most serious mistake of this first run, made by a Swiss competitor who has to start again from a standstill, losing 20 seconds, happens in a blind spot.

The Czech athlete whose name I’d rather not write starts with bib number 4 and sets the fastest time, Moioli is fifth (out of 11) by the time she descends and will finish sixth; the other two Italians also make it into the top 20, who are exempt from the second run, which is essentially a repechage. About halfway through the runs, all those left have a significant delay already in the first half, which makes me wonder if it’s a course problem (the commentators mention lighting issues) or they’re simply not as strong: in the end, all 12 who’ll go into the second run started among the last 16. Some end up more than 5 seconds behind without making major mistakes, so I wonder if we’ll see this gap in the elimination rounds as well. The second run starts immediately after the first: the course is clearly faster, as almost everyone improves, many by more than a second (the best time would have been 14th in the first run).

anche sarebbe arrivata 14^).

At the exit from the terrace at the end of the qualifiers, there’s Tina: there’s a queue to take a photo with her and I have one taken too (by a French woman). A bit further on there’s an open space with several refreshment points: there’s also a “typical foods” stall, where I get polenta with sausage. I notice that many of the staff at these kiosks are Roman (you can tell by their accent). While eating, I meet two Canadian girls from Ontario: we talk about hockey, which they’re going to watch the next day. There’s a covered area where I stop to rest and charge my phone: keeping my phone charged is always a problem, since power banks aren’t allowed. The problem isn’t the cold, though: it’s actually quite pleasant, even though they said it was -7°C at the start. I’m still a bit hungry, so I also head to the pasta kiosk: I get some butter and sage ravioli that look more like cream and aren’t so good.

I return to the competition area around 1 p.m., half an hour before the start. This time I position myself further towards the back of the stand, among the Australians (but not too close, as some are very tall): compared to the qualifiers, I manage to see a bit more, even higher up. Only now do I notice that behind the cross track there’s the half-pipe: it’s steeper than I imagined.

In the first eighth-final, the Australians celebrate Baff’s win, who also finishes ahead of the Czech number 1. The first Italian to set off, Francesia Boirai, fights but finishes third. Moioli’s eighth-final ends halfway through the race, with the Swiss competitor’s fall: she and the Australian Clift cruise through. In the last eighth-final, Groblechner also qualifies. All the top eight and 13 of the top 16 go through. The last ones are left behind, but not as much as in the qualifiers.

The quarter-finals follow almost immediately. In the first, the Czech and the Australian qualify again, swapping positions (those who went through in the same heat always end up together in the next round). In the others, Moioli and the French Nirani-Pereira and Casta win easily and seem the strongest. The other Italian is never in contention. Six of the top eight qualify, but the exceptions are numbers 17 and 21. The semi-finals start with just three or four minutes between them. In the first, Baff wins again ahead of the Czech, knocking out Casta. In the second, Moioli falls behind at the start: I think she’s out of  energies, but halfway through she’s back with the group and overtakes them one by one, winning ahead of the Swiss Wiedmer, with Casta eliminated.

There’s a break of about ten minutes before the finals. First comes the small final, then the grand final: when the contenders are introduced, Moioli seems to have the least support, it doesn’t feel like we’re in Italy (of course, it could just be where I’m standing). The Italian is again slow off the mark, then claws her way back, but this time only manages one overtake. Wiedmar takes the lead but makes a mistake on the penultimate bend, and Baff's yellow bib goes ahead, to the delight of the Australians. Silver to the Czech athlete, bronze to Moioli.

I try to get closer to the victory ceremony, but I realise I'll never see it, there's too much of a crowd. Then it doesn't even take place where I thought it would: I can only see it on the screen, but I can see the flags live. The three seem to be applauded more or less equally. The Australian anthem starts, which at first reminds me of  a traditional Italian mountain song: I hear my neighbours singing it.

On the way out, in the Fan Zone, some French people try to use a beer crate as a sledge and there is a band performing. At the exit, the customs officers stop me, asking me if I have made any purchases and even search my toiletries bag. I am amazed that they think I have done anything other than watch the Olympics. I take a shuttle bus that is about to leave. Tomorrow I will transfer to the Cortina area.

Domani trasferimento in area Cortina.