Defending Olympic champion Eileen Gu has fallen on her first run in freeski halfpipe qualifying at the Milan Cortina Games.

Bend native Hunter Hess was scheduled to compete in the men's freeski halfpipe at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina on Thursday, Feb. 19. The event was postponed due to heavy snow in the Levigno area.

The men's aerials qualifiers and final were rescheduled for Friday starting from 4:30 p.m. ET, while the men's halfpipe qualification runs were moved to an hour after that.

Both Kaila Kuhn and Winter Vinecki had a shot to medal for Team USA after advancing to the final run among the top 6 competitors in women's aerials.

Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu will be leaving the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics with at least two silver medals. She could add one more medal to her total if she can qualify for Saturday's women's skiing halfpipe final.

Birk Ruud of Norway, who won big air gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and slopestyle gold earlier at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, finished in eighth place after spilling out on each of his final runs.

Freestyle skiing halfpipe and aerial events were postponed at the Winter Olympics on Thursday because of heavy snow in Livigno, Italy.

LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — A storm dumping more than a half-foot of snow in the mountain town of Livigno on Thursday morning forced the postponement of Olympic men's freestyle skiing halfpipe qualifying and men's aerials in the latest juggling of the schedules.

Freestyle Skiing has been part of the Winter Games’ program since 1988. The exciting sight of athletes soaring through the sky has been an exciting sight for fans. Aerials was a demonstration sport in both 1988 and 1992, but was officially entered into the program as a medal event in Lillehammer, Norway in 1994.