McMorris stomps and the sun shines on slopestyle with a winter storm approaching at the Olympics

LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris looked unfazed by the injury that opened his stay in Italy or by the late schedule change that scrambled slopestyle qualifying, finishing third among 29 riders Sunday to give himself a chance for a fourth Olympic medal.

Joining McMorris in the final, currently scheduled for Wednesday, will be 2018 champion Red Gerard and 2022 silver medalist Su Yiming.

Also in what's looking like a stacked 12-man field are eight-time X Games champion Marcus Kleveland, 17-year-old American Ollie Martin and top qualifier Dane Menzies of the burgeoning land of action sports, New Zealand.

The women's qualifier, also bumped up by a day, featured another Kiwi, defending champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, finishing first, while Anna Gasser came in fifth and will have a chance to add a third Olympic medal — her first in slopestyle — in her last appearance at the Games.

Most of the news in slopestyle, however, revolved around McMorris and a schedule change.

The 32-year-old Canadian, the three-time bronze medalist in this event, got knocked out after a nasty fall in big air qualifying on Feb. 4. He was cleared to compete this week and was planning to hit the starting gate Monday. But with a big storm approaching, organizers pushed the qualifier up by a day, scrambling plans and costing everyone a day of training.

“It made for a better level of riding,” McMorris said of the ability to ski on a bluebird day in Livigno. “But I was in the mindset of where, like, as many days as I can have, the better. But I practiced hard those two days I had confidence from the team doc that I'd passed all the tests and I knew I could ride with full intensity.”

He got the drama over with early, stomping landings on a 1620-degree spin, a triple cork and another 1440-degree spin, which placed him in the top three.

For Gerard, a different story.

He came off a rail early on his first run and nearly put his hand down after landing a jump on the second. Still, both trips involved a series of difficult tricks that were otherwise clean, which left the American shaking his head when his score popped up on the second run. It was a 70 that was ultimately good for 11th and forced him to sweat out the qualifier from wire to wire.

Gerard wasn't happy with judging at the last Olympics, where the panel's failure to notice a missed grab by the eventual gold medalist, Max Parrot, kept him off the podium. He said the way runs were scored in Sunday's qualie will make him rethink his plan for the final.

“Definitely relook at probably the top section of the course, the rails,” he said. “And try to go look at other people's runs and see what they liked. Just do a little more homework maybe.”

How much time will there be for homework? Anybody's guess.

The women's final is scheduled for Tuesday and the men's is set for Wednesday, but storms are coming in. Slopestyle is the snowboarding event most susceptible to weather — it's hard to get speed or judge jumps when snow and wind are blowing — and the riders now know they might have to change plans with little notice.

“I found out in the sauna,” Menzies said of the change on the qualifier. “I was doing some stretches and I was like, ‘Oh, here we go. Guess we need to go get this done.’”

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

New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott during the women's snowboarding slopestyle qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Austria's Anna Gasser competes during the women's snowboarding slopestyle qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

United States' Redmond Gerard reacts during the men's snowboarding slopestyle qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Canada's Mark McMorris reacts during the men's snowboarding slopestyle qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Canada's Mark McMorris reacts during the men's snowboarding slopestyle qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel will begin a contentious land regulation process in a large part of the occupied West Bank, which could result in Israel gaining control over wide swaths of the area for future development, according to a government decision on Sunday.

The decision paves the way for the resumption of “settlement of land title” processes, which had been frozen in the West Bank since the Mideast War in 1967. It means that when Israel begins the land registration process for a certain area, anyone with a claim to the land must submit documents proving ownership.

“This move is very dramatic and allows the state to gain control of almost all of Area C,” said Hagit Ofran, the director of Israeli anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now. Area C refers to the 60% of the West Bank that is under full Israeli military control, according to agreements reached in the 1990s with the Palestinians.

The decision is the latest step to deepen Israeli control over the West Bank. In recent months, Israel has greatly expanded construction in Jewish settlements, legalized outposts and made significant bureaucratic changes to its policies in the territory to strengthen its hold and weaken the Palestinian Authority.

Sunday's decision was first announced last May but required further development before it was approved in this week’s Cabinet meeting.

Under the decision, Israeli authorities will announce certain areas to undergo registration, which will force anyone who has a claim to the land to prove their ownership.

Ofran said the process for proving ownership can be “draconian” and is rarely transparent, meaning any land that undergoes the registration process in areas currently owned by Palestinians is likely to revert to Israeli state control.

“Palestinians will be sent to prove ownership in a way that they will never be able to do,” Ofran told The Associated Press. "And this way Israel might take over 83% of the Area C, which is about half of the West Bank.”

The registration process could start as soon as this year, she said.

The proposal had been put forward by some of Israel’s far-right members of the ruling coalition, including the Minister of Justice Yariv Levin. “The government of Israel is committed to strengthening its grip on all its parts, and this decision is an expression of that commitment,” he said.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ office in a statement called the decision “a grave escalation and a flagrant violation of international law,” which amounts to “de facto annexation.” It called on the international community, especially the U.N. Security Council and the United States, to intervene immediately.

Previous U.S. administrations have sharply condemned an expansion of Israeli activity and control in the West Bank, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a particularly close relationship with President Donald Trump. The two met last week in Washington, their seventh meeting in the past year.

And yet Trump has opposed annexation, Ofran noted.

Palestinians are not permitted to sell land privately to Israelis, though measures announced last week aim to nullify this. Currently, settlers can buy homes on land controlled by Israel’s government. Last week's decision also aimed to expand Israeli enforcement of several aspects of in the West Bank, including environmental and archaeological matters in Palestinian-administered areas.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 from Jordan and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Jordan's Foreign Ministry in a statement called on the international community to “assume its legal and moral responsibilities, and to compel Israel, the occupying power, to stop its dangerous escalation.”

Over 300,000 Palestinians are estimated to live in Area C of the West Bank, with many more in surrounding communities dependent on its agricultural and grazing lands, including plots for which families retain land deeds or tax records dating back decades.

Associated Press journalist Areej Hazboum in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Palestinians walk along the separation barrier between the West Bank and east Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, Sunday Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Palestinians walk along the separation barrier between the West Bank and east Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, Sunday Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)