Italy's Simone Deromedis won gold and teammate Federico Tomasoni took silver in the men's ski cross final at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy. Switzerland's Alex Fiva claimed bronze, while Canada's Reece Howden expressed frustration over the challenging course conditions after failing to advance past the quarterfinals. The Italian duo completed a sweep of freestyle skiing medals for the hosts following Flora Tabanelli's earlier bronze.
The men's ski cross event took place on Saturday at Livigno Snow Park during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Simone Deromedis of Italy led from the start in the final, maintaining his position to secure gold. Federico Tomasoni overtook Switzerland's Alex Fiva in a photo finish for silver, with Fiva earning bronze and Japan's Satoshi Furuno finishing fourth.
This one-two finish came five days after Italy's Flora Tabanelli won bronze in big air despite a torn ACL, marking the country's first Olympic freestyle skiing podium in 34 years. Deromedis, who placed fifth in Beijing 2022, celebrated the achievement, saying: "For the first time in history we did the first race of the season, one or two, the double podium is absolute, and to do it at the Olympics, I want to say it's great, better than this, we couldn't go (better)."
Fiva, securing his second Olympic medal after silver in Beijing 2022, described the race: "It went good, I have a medal. It was a really tough race. It was crazy, exhausting. My legs were burning after the first round."
In the quarterfinals, Deromedis, Tomasoni, and teammate Dominik Zuech eliminated Canada's Reece Howden, the reigning World Cup Crystal Globe winner, who finished fourth. Howden, who had the fastest seeding time and won his 1/8 final, was crowded on a turn by Tomasoni, losing speed in heavy snow that slowed the course. He vented to CBC: "Honestly, like, the weather is ridiculous. It is a joke... This is an absolute joke."
Other Canadians, including Kevin Drury, Jared Schmidt (penalized with a yellow card for contact), and Gavin Rowell, also exited in the quarterfinals or earlier. Defending champion Ryan Regez of Switzerland was disqualified from the small final after contact with Germany's Tim Hronek, with France's Terence Tchiknavorian winning that heat.
Deromedis's victory echoed Regez's 2022 Olympic gold after a pre-Games World Cup win, following Deromedis's own recent triumph at Val di Fassa.
