Milano Cortina 2026: Japan’s Ogiwara Tops Qualifying in Men’s Big Air; Japan’s All 4 Snowboarders Advance to Finals (Update 1)

The Yomiuri Shimbun

9:58 JST, February 6, 2026 (updated at 16:20 JST, Feb. 6)

MILAN — Japan’s Hiroto Ogiwara topped the men’s snowboarding big air qualifying at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games in Livigno, Italy, on Thursday (early Friday JST), ahead of the opening ceremony on Friday.

Snowboarding was one of the events held Thursday.

All four Japanese snowboarders taking part in the event made it to the top 12 and will advance to the final on Saturday. Kira Kimura finished third, with Taiga Hasegawa in fifth and Ryoma Kimata in 10th.

The Games will be held at several venue clusters in northern Italy. The opening ceremony will take place at four separate venues, including the Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium in Milan.

The torch relay made it to Milan on Thursday, with the torchbearers running through the city before arriving at the square in front of Duomo di Milano, a popular tourist spot in the city center. Milan residents and tourists roared with joy as one of the torchbearers passed by.