Julie Zogg and Ladina Caviezel are making their fourth and final attempt at an Olympic medal in Livigno. The omens are not ideal in the fall of their snowboarding careers, but hope lives on.
08.02.2026, 04:30
SDA
Zogg, the 2019 and 2023 World Champion, and Dario Caviezel, the 2023 World Championship silver medallist, will go into Sunday's season highlight in ninth place in the current overall World Cup. The 33-year-old from Sargans has made it onto the podium once so far this winter (second in Mylin, China, at the beginning of December). Dario Caviezel's last top three finish in the World Cup dates back to December 2024.
The most successful days of Ladina Caviezel, who like Julie Zogg will end her career after this season, were also a while ago. The 32-year-old wife of Dario Caviezel, formerly Ladina Jenny, has been waiting for her 17th podium finish in the World Cup since February 2024. There has been a gap behind her in the Swiss alpine snowboard team so far.
Yes, the signs for the next Swiss success story in alpine snowboarding are less favorable than in most previous Olympic years. However, the discipline has been a Swiss specialty since its inclusion in the Olympic program: Ueli Kestenholz won bronze at the premiere in Nagano in 1998, Philipp Schoch won gold twice in 2002 and 2006 (ahead of his brother Simon) and Nevin Galmarini triumphed in 2018 after winning silver in 2014.
Nevertheless, the Swiss veterans are not going to the start without medal hopes, especially as the physically demanding slope and the expected long run times play to their strengths: Julie Zogg, who has significantly adapted, "modernized" so to speak, her technique for this season, says: "The season hasn't gone as hoped so far, but the goal is the same as before the season: I want to race for a medal."
Dario Caviezel, who, unlike Zogg and his wife, will be "hanging on for four years", says: "The results are mixed, they don't tell the whole truth. I know my qualities, the goal is clearly a medal." As runner-up at the 2023 World Championships and third at the 2019 World Championships, Ladina Caviezel relies in particular on her qualities at major events.
The Italians around overall World Cup leader Aaron March and Livigno local hero Maurizio Bormolini, who were also able to train intensively on the race slope at their home event, are now setting the tone. Or the Austrians with Benjamin Karl, the 2022 Olympic champion. In the women's event, it was no longer Julie Zogg and Ladina Caviezel who regularly kept the Italian-Austrian competition at bay, but Tsubaki Miki from Japan.
