Su Yiming and Mari Fukada soar to Slopestyle titles as Snowboard program wraps up in style

Su Yiming (CHN) stomped all three runs on his way to clinching China’s first gold of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, while Mari Fukada led home a Japanese 1-3 as the Men’s and Women’s Slopestyle wrapped up the Snowboard program in Livigno.

Su celebrated his 22nd birthday in style, capturing Slopestyle gold at Milano Cortina 2026 to add to the Big Air bronze he secured on 7 February, finishing ahead of silver medallist Taiga Hasegawa (JPN) and bronze winner Jake Canter (USA).

As for Fukada, the 19-year-old took the lead on run two before stepping it up in her third and final run of the competition to lift the crown on her Olympic Slopestyle debut.

New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott clinched her second silver of the Milano Cortina 2026 Games in a historic performance, as the 24-year-old become the most-decorated Olympic snowboarder of all-time with a clutch performance in the final run of the competition. Milano Cortina Big Air champion Kokomo Murase  would become the second Japanese woman on the podium with a hugely impressive bronze medal performance.

With three trips to the podium today, Japan finish atop the Snowboard medal standings with nine total medals - four golds, two silvers and three bronze.

MEN’S SLOPESTYLE

Su put down three silky-smooth runs with the 82.41pts he earned on his first run enough to clinch gold with a significant upgrade on his Slopestyle silver from Beijing 2022. His first run would be the best of the bunch, as he opened with a gap backside 450 to fakie, then switch backside tailslide 270 out, half-cab up to frontside 270 on 270 out, then switch frontside 180 on to backside rodeo 900 stalefish out on the canon rail, then through the jumps with a nosebutter switch frontside 1440 mute, into a switch backside 1620 melon, and then a backside 1800 nosegrab to cap it off for a score of 82.41 and the gold medal.

The gold was Su’s fourth medal across two Olympic Winter Games to tie him with Alpine Snowboard legend Benjamin Karl (AUT) atop the all-time men’s Snowboard medal standings.

Hasegawa too stomped his first run, earning a score of 82.13 points which would put him in a second-place position that he would hold until competition’s end. 

Hasegawa’s medal asserted Japan’s dominance of men’s Milano Cortina 2026 Snowboard competition, as the Olympic debutant clinched the nation's fifth men’s medal at Milano 2026. They leave with two golds, two silvers and a bronze.

Canter nailed his final run to fire himself third with 79.36 points, although the U.S. rider had a long and nervous wait with nine riders still to drop after he put down his third run. When top qualifier and final rider of the competition Dane Menzies (NZL) fell in his final attempt, Canter claimed the bronze.

Hasegawa beamed: “I was thinking today’s final would be the most horrible, because Marcus KLEVELAND (NOR) and Mark MCMORRIS (CAN) are such legends for me. I’m so stoked to ride with them. I’m so proud of them. They are snowboard legends.

“I’m so happy, but their style is very good. I want to become like them."

Canter suffered a traumatic brain injury following a trampoline accident when he was 13. It led to him being in a coma and suffering subsequent health issues and brain surgeries.

“It's unbelievable, and I really hope I made 13-year-old me laying in that hospital bed proud,” he said. “It was just for him. And everyone that supported me, my parents. They supported me through everything.

"So many doctors told me to never snowboard again, so to be here at the Olympics on the biggest stage, it's unbelievable.”

WOMEN’S SLOPESTYLE

Fukada fired herself into the lead after her second run as the first woman to break 80 points with an 85.70pts, leapfrogging her Japanese teammate Murase.

However, Fukada then stepped things up in a big way on her third and final attempt. 

Opening her run with a switch frontside boardslide 270 out, Fukada then went switch boardslide to forward, frontside bluntslide 270 out, and a lipslide underflip to finish off the rails section, before going through the jumps with a switch backside 1260 mute, backside 720 mute, frontside 720 melon off the toes to finish it off for a score of 87.83 and the lead.

Both Murase and Sadowski-Synnott had the honours of dropping after Fukada, and while both would improve their score significantly, neither would approach Fukada’s eventual gold medal-winning score. While Murase would pull out all the stops - including a frontside triple cork 1260 - she would end up with a score of 85.80 to slot into second, only for Sadowski Synnott to drop next and bump Murase down to bronze medal position with a score of 87.48 for the silver medal.

It was Fukada’s first Olympic medal while Murase added bronze to her Big Air crown with the Japanese women leaving Milano 2026 with four medals.

For Sadowski Synnott, her second silver of the Milano Cortina 2026 Games would put her in rarified air, as she rose to sole ownership of top spot on the Snowboard Olympic medal rankings with five to her name - one gold, three silvers and a bronze.

Fukada put Japan’s success down to hard work before turning her attention to how she navigated her way to gold.

It was an emotional moment for Sadowski Synott. “This is pretty insane for me. 

"It's pretty special. Just learning and growing and trying to get better. To be back here after four years is pretty sick. I'm just really grateful that I was able to put it down when it counted.

"To be on the podium at every single event I've entered this season is pretty insane." 

While happy to have made the podium, Murase had mixed feelings on her bronze, saying: “I'm also a bit frustrated. I thought my score would be a little higher. I gave it my all today, but I didn't get enough points.

"It's four years in the making to be here. I was aiming for two gold medals (so) I'm frustrated. I don't know what went wrong." 

Up Next:

14 thrilling days of Snowboard action wrap up in Livigno at Milano Cortina 2026, delivering a mix of new champions, returning medalists and remarkable comeback stories. From photo finishes to tactical masterclasses, the event showcased the sport at its most explosive and unpredictable. With the Olympic medals decided, the riders can now embrace the Games experience, and a well-earned pause, before the FIS World Cup circuit resumes in March.