Milano Cortina 2026: Japan’s Mitsuki Ono, Ikuma Horishima Add 2 Bronzes to Medal Tally

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:42 JST, February 13, 2026

MILAN — Mitsuki Ono, 21, won bronze in the women’s snowboard halfpipe at the Milano Cortina Olympic Games in Livigno, Italy, on Thursday.

Ono’s score of 85.00 points in her first of three runs in the final was enough to secure the medal. She had finished ninth at the 2022 Beijing Games, where her teammate Sena Tomita had won bronze in the same event.

Japan had three other athletes competing in the halfpipe final. Sara Shimizu, 16, finished fourth; Rise Kudo, 16, fifth; and Tomita, 26, ninth. Choi Gaon of South Korea won gold with a score of 90.25 points. Two-time Olympic champion Chloe Kim of the United States finished second.

Ikuma Horishima, 28, also won bronze on Thursday, equaling his performance at the Beijing Games in the freestyle skiing men’s moguls.

Overcoming defeat

By Riki Ozawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Sportswriter

Mitsuki Ono was frustrated by her ninth-place finish in the women’s snowboard halfpipe at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Four years later, she was determined to improve and won high marks in her first run in the final by nailing difficult tricks, such as a frontside 1080 tailgrab.

Beijing was Ono’s first Olympics, and she fell in both her second and third runs in the final. After returning to Japan, she had to isolate herself for a certain period due to COVID-19 lockdown regulations. However, she remained at her home even after the end of that period.

Ono keenly felt the gap between herself and the world’s top snowboarders, such as the United States’ Chloe Kim, who had won gold. Watching their performances, Ono thought: “They’re on a completely different level. There’s no way I can catch up with them.”

She even toyed with the idea of retiring from competition when she was about to enter university.

Still, Ono decided to carry on competing because she wanted to dispel her bad memories from Beijing at the next Olympics. She worked on improving a wide variety of aerial maneuvers to make the most of what makes her stand out, and she became the snowboard halfpipe World Cup champion for the first time in the 2022-2023 season. She then repeated the feat the following season.

Even though she was unable to overcome Kim, who won silver, Ono looked fondly at her bronze medal while on the podium.

“Four years ago, it all ended in pure frustration,” she said. “I’m glad I channeled that feeling and worked hard without giving up.”