It wouldn’t be a Winter Olympics without some judging controversy.
And while this current scandal isn’t quite on the level of, say, what Marie-Reine Le Gougne did in the 2002 Winter Olympics, this latest controversy is still “insane,” at least according to the U.S. Olympian involved with it.
On Thursday, U.S. snowboarder Nathan Pare appeared to have won first place at the snowboard cross quarterfinal after a furious comeback, according to theNew York Post.
That thrill of victory would turn out to be fleeting.
Pare was disqualified after the judges reviewed footage following the race and determined that the 21-year-old American had intentionally knocked over Spanish snowboarder Lucas Eguibar.
(There are three levels of this sort of illegal contact, with “intentional” being the worst, followed by “involuntary” and then “incidental.”)
The “intentional” contact is punishable by a disqualification — which is exactly what happened to Pare — if it’s determined to have had a tangible impact on the competition.
You can view what happened in that race below (Pare is in yellow and black):
Chaos in men’s snowboard cross as Team USA’s Nathan Pare was disqualified for making contact with his opponent after a FURIOUS comeback.pic.twitter.com/WjEpt37Aad
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics)February 12, 2026
Source: VidNews » Feed
