The Carving Games: Snowboard racing is competing for its life at the 2026 Olympics

LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Justin Reiter is a rarity in snowboarding. He is an American who made his career carving curves into the snow banks at high speeds, instead of launching his board airborne from the halfpipe.

Now Reiter, 45, is a coach of the world’s best woman snowboard racer, Czech two-time gold medalist Ester Ledecka. Reiter’s pupil, can make snowboarding history with a third straight Olympic gold when she races in parallel giant slalom Sunday at the Milan Cortina Games.

But the Olympic future of their prized sport, called PGS for short, is in jeopardy.

Olympics officials have put PGS, an Olympic discipline since 1998, under review with the possibility of dropping it, along with Nordic combined, from the 2030 Winter Games in France. They will review the sports after evaluating how they fare this year. Snowboard's other racing event, the four-against-four, racetrack style snowboardcross, is not under threat.

The International Olympic Committee said in September that the decision was made in line with new criteria established two years ago for an Olympics that is “balanced, youth-focused and cost-efficient.”

For Reiter, if those are the criteria, it's a no-brainer.

“I think that would be a huge mistake on the part of the IOC” to drop PGS, Reiter told a small group of reporters on Friday.

“It has a fantastic participation between both men and women. It’s extremely cost effective and requires very little snow. So as the IOC places this importance on equity, climate change, and cost for reusable venues, it checks each of those (boxes) absolutely perfect.”

Ledecka joined with other Alpine snowboarders in a public campaign, labeled #keepPGSolympic.

Ledecka made herself this discipline's biggest name in 2018 when she followed up an upset win in skiing's super-G with a victory in PGS, a never-before-done Olympic double that, to that point, was thought impossible.

Forced this year, due to a scheduling conflict, to choose between PGS and what is now her best skiing event, the women's downhill, she picked snowboarding.

“I would do it again because it is an amazing sport which for sure belongs to the Olympics,” she said in a video on Instagram. “I know my personal opinion doesn’t matter at all, but I just hope that the opinion of the person that does matter will fight for alpine snowboarding.”

International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) is also pulling for the racers, with its sport and event director Sandra Spitz calling PGS “the quintessence of what riding a snowboard is about.”

“It’s exciting, simple to understand, cost-efficient, and takes very little in the way of preparation,” she said.

PGS has had its memorable Olympic moments.

In 2002, Chris Klug of Aspen, Colorado, captured a bronze medal in front of a rapturous American crowd in Park City, Utah — the emotional culmination of a comeback from a liver transplant less than two years earlier.

In 2014 came another magical moment when Vic Wild — an American-born snowboard racer who moved to Russia to get better training and funding for a PGS dream that was dead in the States — won a gold medal on the same day his Russian wife won bronze.

Four years later came Ledecka, giving the world a reason to tune in to PGS to see if she could complete her historic double. She did.

Not all the moments have been great. PGS was contested in a driving rainstorm at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Riders needed umbrellas to shield themselves while riding up the lift. More than a dozen slid off the course in the women's contest on a day bronze medalist Marion Kreiner of Austria described as “like jumping into a swimming pool.”

Reiter defends his sport, where two racers compete side-by-side speeding through gates for the fastest finish, as key to snowboarding. For him, it simply represents what most people do on a snowboard. Only once they learn to ride, and maybe ride fast, do a minority decide to risk their necks on the “features” by jumping in a halfpipe or flying over huge rollers and ramps.

Another key truth is that America's TV network, NBC, pays a big chunk of the bill for the Olympics, and snowboard racing lacks American star power. Besides Klug's, the United States has only won one other medal, a bronze, in PGS.

Reiter also mentioned a shift in snowboard manufacturers' focus on making boards for jumping, not speed.

“And snowboarding is just kind of the redheaded stepchild of the Olympics despite the fact that they absolutely need snowboarding,” he said, in a nod to the boost the sport gave the Olympic movement when it was added in 1998.

In the end, PGS riders are a small band of underappreciated purists with one last chance to make a stand. Putting on a good show Sunday would certainly help with that. The reality, though, is that once PGS packs up, snowboarding moves to the halfpipe, which has stars like Chloe Kim, Scotty James and Ayumu Hirano ready to put on a show.

“It’s great to be here in Livigno where everyone can see what everyone else is doing and go out and watch the big air” and other high-flying events, Reiter said. “And I hope to see some guys watching the race finals and sharing the energy that is snowboarding.”

AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Bulgaria's Alexander Krashniak practices during a snowboard parallel giant slalom training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Japan's Tsubaki Miki waves to coaches during a snowboard parallel giant slalom training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Bulgaria's Alexander Krashniak practices during a snowboard parallel giant slalom training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

FILE -Gold medal winner Ester Ledecka, of the Czech Republic, celebrates after the women's parallel giant slalom at Phoenix Snow Park at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi has reached another milestone, getting his 900th career goal in the opening minutes of Inter Miami's CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 match against Nashville on Wednesday night.

The back-to-back Major League Soccer MVP, eight-time Ballon d'Or winner and World Cup champion got it as would be expected — with his left foot, like the majority of his career goals for club and country. He took a pass in the middle of the box in the seventh minute, controlled the ball, spun and lined a low shot through a maze of defenders and into the far corner of the net.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the only other men's player with more than 900 goals — at least, by official counts. It took Ronaldo about 100 more matches to get to the milestone than Messi needed; Ronaldo was 39 when he got to 900 goals in September 2024, while Messi doesn't turn 39 until June.

There are some who have suggested Brazilian legend Pelé topped 1,000 goals for his career, though his “official” total is closer to 800. Different sources, counting different sets of games, list Pelé’s goal totals anywhere from around 650 in league matches to somewhere near 1,300 in all matches — some against low-level competition.

It was a night where Messi surely didn't feel like celebrating. Nashville tied Inter Miami 1-1, advancing to the tournament quarterfinals on an away-goal tiebreaker. The teams played to a 0-0 tie in Nashville last week, the opening leg of the Round of 16 matchup.

Nashville coach B.J. Callaghan paid tribute after the game, saying, “900 goals, congratulations to him. He’s the best.”

Messi remains the game's most popular and most-followed player. His No. 10 Inter Miami jersey has been the bestseller in the league since he arrived in MLS, and everything he does becomes major news in all corners of the soccer world.

This milestone joins countless other awards and accomplishments over Messi’s career, including eight Pichichi trophies as La Liga’s top scorer, six La Liga best player nods, three Best FIFA Men’s Player awards, three UEFA Men’s Player of the Year wins, two FIFA World Cup Golden Balls and no fewer than 15 selections as Argentina’s best player in a given year.

Messi has also been part of winning 47 trophies for club and country — including the 2022 World Cup for Argentina and last season's MLS title with Inter Miami — making him the most decorated player the men’s game has ever seen. He is likely to play again for Argentina this summer when the World Cup is held in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

“The reality,” Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said late last season, “is that Leo clears all doubts.”

More than half of Messi's goals came with Barcelona, the place he played for nearly two decades. He joined Inter Miami in 2023, was under contract through the end of last season originally and now has a new deal stretching into 2028.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) aims to score his 900th goal during a CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 soccer match against Nashville, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) aims to score his 900th goal during a CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 soccer match against Nashville, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi gestures after scoring his 900th goal during a CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 soccer match against Nashville, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi leaves the field in the rain after a draw against Nashville SC in a CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 soccer match, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)