Team USA snowboarder Nathan Pare will not be moving on in the snowboard cross finals on Day 6 of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.
In the second quarterfinal race of the day, Pare got off to slow start and was in last place for much of the competition. Picking up steam around a turn, the back of Pare’s snowboard got tangled up with Spain’s Lucas Eguibar Breton’s board around a turn. The back end of Pare’s snowboard made slight contact with the front of Eguibar Breton’s board, and the Spainard went down.
Pare, still in third place after the collision, made an incredible comeback and raced into first place on the course’s final jump. He crossed the finish line first—but as soon as he did, the quarterfinal run went under review by the judges.
A few minutes later, it was ruled that Pare was disqualified from the competition due to the collision.
“That’s insane,” Pare said to a nearby judge after the ruling, comments that were picked up by NBC microphones on the broadcast.
Chaos in men's snowboard cross as Team USA's Nathan Pare was disqualified for making contact with his opponent after a FURIOUS comeback. pic.twitter.com/WjEpt37Aad
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2026
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The NBC broadcasters did not agree with the ruling, either.
“He stumbles a little bit, and he doesn’t see him back there,” the announcer said on the Peacock live stream. ... That did not look like it was on purpose.”
According to the snowboard cross rule book, there are three categories of interference: intentional, involuntary and incidental. While involuntary and incidental contact typically results in a yellow card—a penalty system similar to soccer—only intentional contact results in a red card and disqualification.
The judges ruled Pare’s collision was intentional, so a pair of French snowboarders—Jonas Chollet and Loan Bozzolo—advanced to the semifinal round instead.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Team USA’s Nathan Pare Calls Out Judges for Controversial Disqualification in Snowboard Cross.
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