Milano Cortina 2026: Olympic Halfpipe Champion Hirano Named to Japanese Team. Prospects Uncertain after Nasty Fall

The Associated Press

11:38 JST, January 24, 2026

Olympic halfpipe champion Ayumu Hirano was named to the Japanese team heading to next month’s Milan Cortina Games despite breaking bones in his face in an accident at a contest in Switzerland over the weekend.

The Japanese ski and snowboard federation placed the 27-year-old on the roster it revealed Tuesday. It said Hirano suffered multiple fractures and bruising to his face and plans to resume training when the pain and swelling subside.

Hirano’s brother, Kaishu, posted a shot on social media of Ayumu with crutches and his cut-up face, along with a message that read: “My heart aches for you. You will come back stronger with me. I’m glad you’re alive.”

The Hirano injury means both Olympic halfpipe champions will have to scramble to compete at the Milan Cortina Games. Chloe Kim injured her shoulder in a training accident earlier this month and says she’ll be able to go, but without as much training as she would like.

Hirano’s injury was much more serious.

On the first run of the final of the Laax Open on Saturday, he slammed into the pipe so hard, his board broke. His face and mouth were bleeding. Olympics.com reported he left the mountain complaining of severe pain in his lower body.

The dangers of riding in the 22-foot-high halfpipe have increased over the past five years because of the triple cork. It was the trick Hirano landed at the last Olympics to win the gold medal after finishing second at the previous two Games, and now a jump that all top contenders try once, if not twice, in a run.

Shaun White edged out Hirano in 2018 — the last Olympics to not feature a triple. Iouri Podladtchikov — the “iPod” — beat Hirano in 2014.

Podladtchikov did not have a chance to defend his title after a scary accident at the Winter X Games in 2018, a few weeks before the Olympics in South Korea.

White’s victory that year came in the aftermath of a scary crash he took while training in New Zealand, requiring a helicopter lift off the mountain and 62 stitches to bind wounds across his face.