Timely TV audience figure boost for Snowboard Alpine

Right as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is in the process of reviewing figures from different disciplines to define the program for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games, Snowboard Alpine received TV viewership data that confirms just how strong the 2025/26 season was.

The FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup reported an average of 8.9 million viewers for each event during the campaign.

According to Nielsen Sports, despite 20% fewer broadcasts and 12% less broadcast time compared to the 2024/25 season, the amount of ‘Event Impressions’ was only down by 2%. This ensured enhanced media value for sponsors and stakeholders.

These statistics confirm the positive trends reported at last September Autumn Meetings in Zurich (SUI). Snowboard Alpine Race Director Uwe Beier also pointed out the accessibility of the sport - “You just need a hill and some snow.” - and the growing diversity of its participants.

No fewer than 13 nations achieved podium finishes during the season with eight of those having race winners. Maurizio Bormolini (ITA) was the standout performer of the campaign, becoming the first male athlete to claim all three Crystal Globes - PGS, Parallel Slalom (PS) and overall - since 2015.

On the women’s side, Tsubaki Miki (JPN) retained her overall and PGS crowns, but Lucia Dalmasso (ITA) denied her a sweep by taking the PS title for her first Crystal Globe. Dalmasso also won the Mixed Team title with Aaron March.

The six medals at the Milano Cortina Games went to five different nations with Zuzana Maderova ensuring the women’s title stayed in Czechia. Two-time reigning champion Ester Ledecka was pipped by Sabine Payer (AUT) in the quarter-finals, but Maderova defeated the Austrian in the final to take gold. Dalmasso (ITA) defeated teammate Elisa Caffont, who had edged out Miki in the quarter-finals, to take bronze for the hosts.

In the men’s, Benjamin Karl (AUT) retained his title in Livigno with the 40-year-old beating fellow veteran Sangyun Kim (KOR) in the final. Karl had defeated Bormolini by just three-hundredths of a second in the last 16. A photo finish was required to decide bronze as Tervel Zamfirov (BUL) just got the better of Beijing 2022 silver medalist Tim Mastnak (SLO) to claim his nation’s first ever Olympic snowboard medal.