LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — A backside double cork 1080! Followed by a cab triple cork 1440! Holy Crail, that was a sweet grab!
The snowboarders and freestyle skiers will be speaking a language all their own as they “shred some gnar” (ride some gnarly conditions) at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Can't tell a melon from a method grab? No worries. Here's a cheat sheet of some terms you might hear when the action starts in Livigno, Italy.
Halfpipe: Imagine a massive tunnel that you could drive a truck through, slice the top off, then transform it into hard-packed snow. That is the halfpipe where snowboarders and freeskiers take turns zooming across its inclined slope to gather speed before launching into a series of acrobatic jumps. The halfpipe at the Livigno ski resort hosting these Olympic events measures 220 meters (240 yards) in length, 22 meters (24 yards) in width, and rises to 7.2 meters (23.6 feet) in height.
Slopestyle: A course located on a slope where snowboarders and freestyle skiers take turns trying to put together the most polished and demanding series of tricks coming off rails and molded bumps for aerial lift. The Livigno slopestyle course allows for jumps that can exceed 25 meters (27 yards).
Big air: The third of the “park” events consists of athletes performing one single “big” jump. The Livigno big air jump ramp peaks at over 40 meters (yards).
180, 360, 540, 1440: The degrees of a spinning trick completed in a single jump. 360 is 1 complete spin, 720 two spins, etc. The most spins completed in competition are 6 1/2. That's a 2340, both on snowboard and skis, and the massive spins like that almost always come in big air. On the halfpipe, anyone who pulls off a 1440 will be in contention for a medal. Important for street credibility: 2340 and the like are pronounced “twenty-three forty,” not "two thousand, three-hundred and forty."
Backside: Facing backwards going into a rail on a slopestyle course, as well as when a rider or skier faces uphill when completing a spin on a jump. Frontside means a rider faces downhill when completing a spin.
Cork: A head-over-heels flip that produces a corkscrew effect. A double cork is two flips, a triple cork, three, etc. Triple corks are the trick that could win the men's halfpipe.
Grabs: How the snowboarder reaches down and holds the board during a jump. There are many, but among those that come up for the top riders: Mute (front hand grabs the toe edge), melon (front hand grabs the back edge), stalefish (grab heel edge with rear hand). method (a melon but with a little flair, tweaking the board up and twisting) and, of course, the crail (both hands and back leg should be straight; do not try this at home). Judges look to see whether the rider actually grabs the board, not just places their hand on top of it, and some of these grabs need to be executed between bindings.
Grabs, Part 2: Freeskiing has its own glossary of these grabs, including Japan (behind and across to grab opposite ski) and seat belt (imagine putting a seatbelt on, but by bringing the buckle up to grab the latch).
Goofy: When a snowboarder leads with his “bad foot.” For a right-handed person, it would mean leading with the right foot.
Kicker: Another term for a slopestyle jump.
Lip: The top edge of the halfpipe.
Switch: Riding backwards, also called a “fakie.”
Tomahawk: A steak Shaun White ate at the X Games in Aspen that doubles as his preferred name for what's more commonly known as the Double McTwist 1260, a trick with 3 1/2 spins (two of them head over heels) that starts with a backside spin and is still considered one of the toughest out there.
Cab: A basic of most halfpipe rides, it's named after a skateboarder, Steve Caballero. It starts with a switch approach into a frontside spin.
Yolo: “You Only Live Once.” This is a Cab, double cork 1440 that was the focal point of the 2014 Olympics. White saw Swiss rider Iouri “iPod” Podladtchikov land it in the lead-up, then went about trying to perfect it himself; it was the iPod who pulled it off at the Olympics to win gold. The Yolo is still a relevant trick but in a sign of how much things have changed, it's now a triple cork (or two) — not on the board eight years ago — that will likely win this year's Olympics.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - Austria's Anna Gasser competes during the women's slopestyle finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 6, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
FILE - United States' Shaun White trains before the men's halfpipe finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 11, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes pounded Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 21 Palestinians, including two infants, and further rocking a fragile ceasefire deal, hospital officials said. Israel said it was responding to a militant attack on Israeli soldiers that seriously wounded one.
Deadly Israeli strikes have repeatedly punctuated the truce since it came into effect on Oct. 10, and the escalating Palestinian toll has made many in Gaza say it feels like the war is continuing unabated. Among the Palestinians killed Wednesday were five children, seven women and an on-duty paramedic, according to hospital officials.
“The genocidal war against our people in the Gaza Strip continues,” said Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, in a Facebook post. “Where is the ceasefire? Where are the mediators?”
Israel strongly denies accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led militants poured into southern Israel after a surprise barrage of rockets, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251.
The deal attempted to halt the more than 2-year-old war between Israel and Hamas. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, it has been marred by repeated flareups of violence.
A total of 556 Palestinians have been killed by Israel and 1,500 wounded since the ceasefire went into effect, according to Gaza health officials, while Israel's military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed.
Israel’s military has said its continuing strikes are responses to Hamas violations or militant attacks on its soldiers, but dozens of civilians have died. Eight Arab and Muslim countries, including mediators Egypt and Qatar, recently condemned what they called Israel’s “repeated violations” of the deal.
An Israeli military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with military policy, told The Associated Press that Israel's latest attacks were in response to militant gunfire that badly wounded a reservist soldier Wednesday morning.
Israeli troops fired on a building in the Tuffah neighborhood in north Gaza, killing at least 11 people, most from the same family, said Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included two parents, their 10-day-old girl, her 5-month-old cousin and the children's grandmother.
Mourners gathered in the courtyard of Shifa hospital Wednesday morning for funeral prayers.
“What did this child do? …. Why are they killing the children?" asked a relative of the family, Mohammad Jaser.
“We don’t understand why this is happening to us. What do we do? Where do we go? This isn’t life,” he said.
Two young children were seen kneeling at the body of their father as a woman told them to bid him farewell. A young girl kissed her father's cheeks.
Later, an Israeli strike on a family’s tent in the southern city of Khan Younis killed three people including a 12-year-old boy, said Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Tank shelling in Gaza City’s eastern neighborhood of Zaytoun killed another three Palestinians, according to Shifa Hospital.
A strike on a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis killed at least two people and wounded five others, according to a field hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent in the area. The dead included Hussein Hassan Hussein al-Semieri, a paramedic who was on duty at the time, said the hospital.
Thirty-eight Palestinians were wounded in total by the strikes Wednesday, the Gaza health ministry said.
The Rafah border crossing’s opening Monday was hailed as a step forward for the fragile ceasefire. But since then, Palestinian passage through the crossing has been marred by delays, interrogations and uncertainty over who would be allowed to cross.
It took the entire day Tuesday for 40 Palestinians to enter Gaza. Around 1 a.m. Wednesday, they finally arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where their families welcomed them. By midday Wednesday, no one else had passed through the crossing.
Three women who crossed into Gaza on Monday told The Associated Press a day later that Israeli troops blindfolded and handcuffed them, then interrogated and threatened them, holding them for several hours before they were released.
Asked about the reports, the Israeli military said that “no incidents of inappropriate conduct, mistreatment, apprehensions, or confiscation of property by the Israeli security establishment are known.”
While all fighting has not stopped, some parts of the ceasefire deal have moved forward.
Hamas has released all of the hostages it was holding, and in return Israel has released several thousand Palestinians and is beginning to reopen Rafah. Increased amounts of humanitarian aid have flowed into Gaza and a new technocratic committee has been appointed to administer the territory's daily affairs.
But other key elements of the ceasefire appear to have stalled, including the deployment of an international security force, the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza. The U.S. has given no timeline on when these parts of the deal will wrap up.
Over 71,800 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
Magdy reported from Cairo and Frankel from Jerusalem.
Palestinians carry the body of a man who was killed in an Israeli military strike, during his funeral at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian woman and her children bid farewell to their husband and father, Youssef Haboush, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians carry 1-week-old baby Wateen al-Khabaz, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City , Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians carry 1-week-old baby Wateen al-Khabaz, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City , Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
A Palestinian man mourns over Ahmed Haboush, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn over the dead who were killed in an Israeli military strike, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinian wife and children bid farewell to their father, Youssef Haboush, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn over the dead who were killed in an Israeli military strike, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinian Raed al-Khabba carries his 3-month-old daughter Mira al-Khabbaz, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
