Alessandro Hammerle Wins Gold Medal for Snowboarding Cross Big at Olympics 2026

Alessandro Hämmerle once again reigns supreme in the men's snowboarding big cross at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Hämmerle won gold at Winter Games the second consecutive time in a thriller of a final that saw all four competitors cross the finish line within .30 seconds of each other.

Olympic Snowboarding Men's Big Cross Final

• Gold: Alessandro Hämmerle, Austria
• Silver: Éliot Grondin, Canada
• Bronze: Jakob Dusek, Austria

Chollet led the final for most of the way before Grondin caught up to him. It wasn't until the final jump that Hämmerle inched into the lead, but Grondin was right on his heels with the finish line approaching.

Hämmerle got to the line .03 seconds faster than Grondin, with Dusek taking the bronze.

This was almost an echo of the 2022 final that saw Hämmerle beat out Éliot Grondin in a photo finish.

There was a controversial moment in the second heat in the quarterfinals. Team USA's Nathan Pare made a late charge to cross the finish line first, ahead of Jonas Chollet, but he was disqualified after making contact with Lucas Eguibar Bretón on a turn earlier in the race.

The ruling sent Chollet and Loan Bozzolo into the semifinal. They would go onto to compete in the small final, with Bozzolo crossing the finish line first to take fifth place overall.

Grondin and Hämmerle renewed their rivalry in both the quarterfinals and semifinals even before the big final. They finished first and second in both heats, but Grondin took the top spot in the quarters and semis.

Grondin and Aidan Chollet were the standouts in the seeding run. Chollet posted the fastest time in the field (1:06.37), with Grondin coming in a close second (1:06.75). No one else was within one second of that duo.

Chollet and Loan Bozzolo advancing to the semifinals by finishing in the top two spots in the first quarterfinal. Aidan Chollet finished second in his quarterfinal, behind Dusek.

Since the snowboard big cross became an Olympic event in 2006, there have been three repeat gold medalists. Hämmerle joins America's Seth Wescott (2008, 2010) and France's Pierre Vaultier (2014, 2018) as the only Olympic gold-medal winners in the history of the event.