Bold Predictions for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics

Featured Image: U.S. Freeski Team | Skier: Birk Irving

The 2026 Winter Olympics will bring a whole host of surprises and new world records. This will be just the fourth Winter Games ever in which freeskiing is featured, and the sport becomes more dynamic and entertaining each year, making it harder and harder to predict winners in such a deep talent pool. So when we sat down and thought about what the future will hold in Italy this February, we had to think critically and come up with big ideas that go beyond the norm.

Are these outlooks debatable? Absolutely. Are they wrong? Only time will tell. From the slopestyle course layout to competition results and everything in between, we mulled over the facts and, after much deliberation, came up with FREESKIER's Four Bold Predictions for the 2026 Winter Olympics. 

1. Italian Phenoms Miro and Flora Tabanelli will Become the First Siblings to Win Olympic Big Air Gold Medals at Home

Miro and Flora Tabanelli are in the running for freeskiing’s most talented sibling duo. The pair made waves on the World Cup circuit last winter, leading up to X Games Aspen 2025, where they collectively blew the roof off the competition. Flora was the youngest athlete in the entire competition and became the first Italian woman to win X Games gold, as well as the first Italian to win gold in a winter X Games.

Not more than a day had passed when her brother, Miro, became the second Italian to win X Games gold, as he secured the top spot in Men’s Big Air, stomping the world’s first 2340 on skis. Currently, Flora ranks first overall on the 2026 FIS Base List for women’s ski big air, with Miro ranking fourth in men’s. The odds are anything but low for the brother-sister duo to land on top of the podium at the 2026 Winter Games. 

An Olympic gold alone is cause for celebration, but there’s more at stake here than just an individual medal. We think the Tabanelli’s will be the first siblings in the short history of Olympic Freeski Big Air competition to secure gold medals at the same Olympics. To up the ante, the two will be doing so in their home country. Sometimes the fairytale stories just write themselves, and that’s exactly what we’re expecting when it comes to the Tabanellis this February. 

2. Goepper will Compete in Slopestyle AND Halfpipe… and Win Both

Nick Goepper is one of the most captivating and polarizing skiers on the planet. The denim-clad halfpipe ripper has made headlines many times in the past year. After retiring from competition, he quickly altered course, announcing his return to freeskiing but shifting his focus from slopestyle to halfpipe. He went on to secure multiple podiums at World Cup halfpipe events, snagged himself a gold medal at the 2025 X Games and has lit up the internet, going viral more than a few times along the way.

In addition to advocating for mental health awareness, Goepper has been relentless in his halfpipe training over the past year and a half, even building a unique quarter pipe and airbag setup in the Nevada desert. His eyes are clearly set on Olympic halfpipe gold… but that doesn’t mean he’s out of the running for the slopestyle competition.

The newly decorated halfpipe star already has three Olympic medals in slopestyle (two silver, one bronze) and four X Games gold medals, the most in X Games Men’s Ski Slopestyle history. In a 2023 interview with NBC Sports, Goepper himself stated that, “The tricks translate almost directly,” from slopestyle to halfpipe. So who’s to say halfpipe training can’t cover the grounds for slopestyle as well?

Goepper could still theoretically qualify for slopestyle this winter. There’s no IOC rule against a skier competing in two disciplines and a few first-place finishes at World Cup Olympic Qualifying events would set him on the right track. Take Czech athlete Ester Ledecká, for example. In 2018, she took home the gold in both ski super-G and snowboard parallel GS. It may be a stretch, but no matter what happens, we’ll be pulling for Goepper’s success in his legendary comeback.

3. The Slopestyle Course will Include Three Jesper Tjäder-inspired Unrailistic Features

Jesper Tjäder is one of the greatest skiers to ever do it. His technical talent alone sets him apart from the masses, but it’s his creativity that has had us glued to his antics for years. One of those creative endeavors is the Red Bull Unrailistic event. Through each variation over the last few years, the competition has evolved, but the out-of-the-box thinking has remained a constant. We’re guessing the IOC is going to take a page out of Tjäder’s book and make this winter’s Olympic slopestyle course one to remember by adding a few features that will certainly leave an impression.

When deciding which metal creation to include in the course, there are plenty of options. Unrailistic has seen everything from octo-kink rails to disco dance floors to flaming boxes and just about anything in between. Looking back at the 2022 Olympic slopestyle course, we can see that Janis Jansons, the head shaper at the time, spared no detail in building out Dirk Scheumann’s vision, so it’s safe to assume that the team at Milano-Cortina 2026 will follow in those footsteps. 

The Beijing 2022 course had a total of 17 features, with the massive Great Wall sculpture tracing the course and even being incorporated into the jumps. Assuming we can expect a similar number of features this winter, that leaves room for about 11 rails. It would be foolish to expect each one to be truly wild, so we’d love to see at least three Jesper-inspired metal sculptures dotting the slopes. Thinking on the more rational side, the tandem S rails, massive step-up rainbow and flat rail over the pond are our picks for three Unrailistic features that could be found on the 2026 Olympic slopestyle course. 

4. Pope Leo Arrives with Signed DVD Copy of Tom Wallisch and Simon Dumont’s Classic JOSS 2009 Team America Edit

The recently appointed Pope Leo XIV is the first American to represent Catholicism on the world stage. No doubt he’ll hop a quick flight from the Vatican to Cortina in support of the stars and stripes. But we’re betting he shows up with a little something extra. With a smile on his face, the Pope will deliver a signed, bootlegged DVD copy of the one and only 2009 JOSS Team America edit from Simon Dumont and Tom Wallisch.

JOSS, also known as the Jon Olson Super Sessions, was a highly anticipated, annual event that etched its place in the freeski history books during the mid-2000s. Each year, skiers would make the pilgrimage to Åre, Sweden to join a stacked lineup of athletes, filmers and photographers. It went through several iterations but depending on who you ask, Wallisch and Dumont’s 2009 edit was the best thing to ever come from it.

His holiness will undoubtedly know the significance of this edit and deliver a signed copy to the U.S. Freeski Team in order to boost morale and fire the crew up into a frenzied winning spirit. It’s a long shot, but we can always hope for a miracle!