U.S. snowboarder breaks silence after controversial Olympics disqualification

USA snowboarder Nathan Pare made a fascinating comeback from fourth place to finish in first place and earn a spot in the men’s snowboard cross semifinal round at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

However, shortly after, Pare was disqualified for crashing into Spain’s Lucas Eguibar. It was a stunning turn of events, and Pare spoke about the decision after being disqualified.

“To have a call like that, at the Olympics, pretty much stripping it away from me, it’s hard to deal with,” Pare said, via Brendan Quinn of The Athletic. “It’s impossible to explain how that feels.”

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation released a statement to The Athletic about the ruling.

“There was no intentional contact, but it was a clear mistake that cut off the other athlete,” the statement read. “Under the rules, if a rider makes such an error and takes another athlete out, they are ranked last in the heat. This falls under line deviation within the race interference rules.”