Olympic Snowboarding Men's Big Air Final 2026 TV Schedule, Live Stream, Pick

Snowboard big air debuted on the Olympic program at the Sochi 2014 Games. Unlike snowboard slopestyle, in which athletes do a full run's worth of tricks on a course that has a jib (rails) section at the top and three large jumps at the bottom, big air sees riders do one single trick in the air. 

As a judged event, a panel of six judges scores each run. The highest and lowest scores are dropped, and the remaining four are averaged.

In both the qualifier, which was completed on Thursday, and Saturday's final, riders take three runs. The scores from the two best runs are added together for the final score, but for each run to count, the rider must do two different tricks. A trick can have the same degrees of rotation (e.g., an 1800, or five full rotations), but if a rider spins in a different direction (frontside, backside, Cab or switch backside), it counts as a different trick. 

In the qualifier, Japan's Hiroto Ogiwara, who landed the first ever 2340 in snowboarding competition, came out on top with a score of 178.50. His highest-scoring trick was a switch backside 1980 melon, which describes the direction of spin, the degrees of rotation and the type of grab. 

Of the four Americans in qualifiers, only one, 17-year-old Ollie Martin, advanced to the final. 

Here's everything you need to know to tune in to the men's snowboard big air final, as well as predictions for the final podium. 

Men's Big Air Final Schedule 

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Date: Saturday, Feb. 7

Time: 1:30 p.m. EST (7:30 p.m. CET)

TV: USA Network (live)

Streaming: Peacock, NBCOlympics.com

Qualifying Results

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Hiroto Ogiwara, Japan (178.50)

Ian Matteoli, Italy (174.50)

Kira Kimura, Japan (173.25)

Su Yiming, China (172.75)

Taiga Hasegawa, Japan (172.25)

Francis Jobin, Canada (170.75)

Lyon Farrell, New Zealand (170.00)

Rocco Jamieson, New Zealand (168.25)

Ollie Martin, United States (167.50)

Ryoma Kimata, Japan (164.75)

Dane Menzies, New Zealand (164.00)

Valentino Guseli, Australia (163.00)

The start order will be the inverse of the qualifying results, so that the highest-scoring qualifier has the chance to go last.

Men's Big Air Preview, Medal Predictions

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Gold: Hiroto Ogiwara, Japan

Silver: Ian Matteoli, Italy

Bronze: Su Yiming, China

The gold medalist in the men's big air final will, at minimum, need to have a switch backside 1980 in his run. While a handful of riders were able to put down a 1980 in qualifiers, doing them switch backside (where the rider leads with the opposite of their natural front foot and begins the trick facing backwards) ups the level of difficulty—and the score—considerably. 

As we've established, Ogiwara had one of the heaviest tricks in qualifiers, the switch backside 1980 melon. But we can't count out host nation Italy's Ian Matteoli, who actually had the highest-scoring single trick in qualifiers, a switch backside 1980 melon that scored 93.75 (compared to Ogiwara's, which earned a 90.50 from the judges). 

China's Yiming is the big air defending gold medalist from Beijing 2022. He is coming off four consecutive World Cup big air podium finishes this season, including two wins.