Park & Pipe athletes soar on the road to Milano Cortina 2026 with Olympic Solidarity scholarships

As the 2024-25 winter season draws to a close, athletes worldwide are setting their sights on the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 - with over 400 of those athletes vying for a spot at the Games now receiving crucial support from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through Olympic Solidarity scholarships. 

The transformative impact of this support has enabled athletes, including FIS Park & Pipe stars like snowboarder Taiga Hasegawa (JPN), freeskier Flora Tabanello (ITA), and many others to train at elite levels and achieve remarkable successes throughout the season.

The first scholarships for Milano Cortina 2026 were awarded in autumn 2023, and there are currently 423 athletes (245 men, 178 women) from 87 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) benefitting from the programme. 

Japanese freestyle snowboarder Taiga Hasegawa is aiming high for Milano-Cortina 2026 after a standout 2024/25 season that saw him claim a big air silver medal at the Engadin 2025 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships as well as World Cup Crystal Globes for big air and Park & Pipe overall. 

The scholarship-holding 19-year-old believes the support he receives will lead to even greater achievements, and he is setting his sights on the top of the podium for the Olympic Winter Games next year. “At Milano Cortina 2026, I will win both big air and slopestyle and become the Olympic champion,” he hopes. “Thanks to Olympic Solidarity, I can train in a good environment, go on overseas tours and achieve good results in competitions,” he adds.

Italian freestyle skier Flora Tabanelli has also had remarkable success this past season, including Engadin 2025 World Championships gold in big air and, like Hasegawa, World Cup Crystal Globes for both big air and Park & Pipe overall - all of which was achieved in just her second season of top-level international competition, at 17 years old.

Reflecting on her journey, she says, “It was a great season. I have grown so much and I am very happy with what I have achieved. Now I'm ready to work as hard as I can to achieve my big goal: Milano Cortina 2026. A memorable result was definitely coming first with my brother Miro in the Big Air World Cup in Tignes, and also winning the overall Park & Pipe Crystal Globe.”  Tabanelli also emphasises the importance of the Olympic Solidarity scholarship in her preparation: “It allows me to train both on snow and on the artificial structures we use for dry training. This will help me to be fully prepared for the Games.”

The aim of Olympic Solidarity is to provide assistance to all NOCs for athlete development programmes, in particular those with the greatest need of it. Ahead of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, a total of 429 scholarships were awarded to athletes from 80 NOCs. Over 50 per cent of those scholarship-holders, 236, qualified for the Games, winning 10 medals.

Learn more about Olympic Solidarity

With files courtesy of Olympics.com