Sarah Höfflin and her detached skis at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on February 7, 2026 – Photo: Hannah Peters / Getty Images
As in all snow sports, there was also a failure in the women’s ski acrobatics slopestyle on Saturday at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. The essence of the competition is that the skiers slide down a track dotted with jumps and barriers, while presenting spectacular exercises, jumps and spins, which are scored by the jury. Sarah Höfflin from Switzerland went wrong in one of her qualifying races.
Höfflin’s first slide went well on the upper barrier section, but at the first bigger jump, one of the slats came off when he was springing off. The Swiss skier even did his spin and grab, but then one of his skis flew off his feet. Upon arrival, Höflin lost his balance, crashed to the ground, and then spun over his axle.
Fortunately, Höflin’s fall was not as serious as it was spectacular. The Swiss immediately indicated to the track workers that he was in one piece, that he was not in any serious trouble, and finally he crossed the finish line on his own feet, and the audience greeted him with cheers. Höflin’s second slide went down fine, but he fell one place short of the top 12, so he didn’t make it to the finals. Mathilde Gremaud, also from Switzerland, won this number in Beijing in 2022.
By the way, Höfflin is a regular competitor, in 2018 he became the Olympic slopestyle champion in Pyeongchang, and that year he also won the winter X Games reserved for extreme sports in big air.
