It's a family affair for Italy
From Beijing 2022 to Milan-Cortina 2026, the Italian siblings Flora and Miro Tabanelli have fueled their medal ambitions for their home Games by both reaching their respective podiums at the freeski World Cup's return to the Chinese capital.
Both talented, humble and competitive, yet with their own distinctive styles, Flora and her elder brother Miro have already made the Tabanelli family proud with over a year to go before the most anticipated competition of their young careers — the 2026 Winter Olympics — opens on the familiar slopes of the Italian Alps.
They did so on Sunday by winning medals, one after another, at the freeski Big Air World Cup's Beijing leg, marking the first time they've shared podium finishes at the same event on the elite International Ski and Snowboard Federation series.
Dropping in earlier than her brother in the top-eight women's final, Flora Tabanelli overcame a false landing in her second run to finish back on the podium with a neat left bio 1080 mute in her third attempt to settle for third place with 159.50 points, following eventual winner Tess Ledeux (168.25 points) and runner-up Sarah Hoefflin (163.00 points).
It's the second bronze medal she's won at Beijing's towering Olympic slope at the Shougang Olympic venue, following the same result last year, underlining the 17-year-old's consistency, as the two-time 2024 Winter Youth Olympics champion has missed the podium only once in the Big Air discipline across five stops over the past 12 months.
Just minutes after celebrating his little sister's achievement, Miro Tabanelli backed up his own Olympic medal credentials, as he finished the 10-man final with three clean executions, bagging his second career World Cup silver medal with 182.25 points from his higher-scored first two runs at the world's only permanent Big Air slope.
Norway's Tormod Frostad edged out Miro Tabanelli by a mere 0.75-point advantage to claim his career first World Cup title in the high-flying discipline, while Dylan Deschamps from Canada rounded out the podium in third with 181 points.
"I just wanna say that I'm really happy and stoked about my skiing today. It was the first time trying a double 2160 in the competition. So, I am really stoked that I finally landed it and it feels like a dream come true," Miro Tabanelli said of his first run, which earned him a field-high score for a single trick of 92.25 points.
"It's also amazing that my sister got on the podium, as well. Thank you, China. It's been an amazing week and Xie Xie."
Born and raised in Sestola, a little ski town in Modena known as the "Pearl of the Apennines" for its proximity to Mount Cimone, Flora and Miro learned how to ski together, and both took off early on the junior circuits as promising future medal hopes for Italy.
To share the podium finish at the senior series in an Olympic host city bodes well for their ultimate goal on home snow in 2026.
"It is a big motivation for me and Flora. She's pushing me every time (we compete together). It's part of my family. It's nice to have her around. And yeah, I would like see this — that we both finish on the podium — repeat itself in the next competitions (all the way) to Milan-Cortina," said Miro, three years Flora's senior.
"The same for me," Flora added, looking back at her brother. "It's amazing to ski with my brother. And it will always be a really nice feeling that we can do it together like we did on the podium here."
