Sara Shimizu of Japan, Mischa Thomas of New Zealand, Fin Melville Ives of New Zealand and Ryusei Yamada of Japan celebrate with Shaun White after winning with Team Challengers during the Snow League World Challenge at Cardrona Alpine Resort on September 19, 2026 in Cardrona, New Zealand.
Getty Images for Snow League
Following an inaugural season that featured four events and offered a total prize purse of $2.2 million, The Snow League has announced a 60-athlete roster for its second season. The field brings together 15 Olympic medalists and all four defending league champions for a three-event schedule in 2027.
Founded by three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White, the professional halfpipe league will feature men’s and women’s snowboard and freeski competitions at each stop. The roster represents 12 countries across five continents and includes athletes who won medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, such as reigning Olympic halfpipe champions Eileen Gu of China, Yuto Totsuka of Japan and Gaon Choi of South Korea.
Eight of the 12 halfpipe medalists from the 2026 Winter Games are expected to compete. The full athlete roster can be seen here.
The season opens January 7–9 at Buttermilk in Aspen, Colorado, marking the first time freeski will held at an Aspen event. Event One is followed by an event at Park City Mountain in Utah from January 21–23, the first Snow League event at that location. The championship finale is scheduled for March 11–13 in LAAX, Switzerland.
Men’s and Women’s Snowboard
In men’s snowboard, defending Snow League champion Totsuka will face fellow Japanese riders Ayumu Hirano, a three-time Olympic medalist, and Ryusei Yamada, who won bronze at the 2026 Olympics. Australian rider Valentino Guseli also joins the field, alongside Americans Alessandro Barbieri and Jake Pates. The latter two riders were just announced to the U.S. Snowboard Team on Thursday.
The women’s snowboard competition will feature defending league champion Sena Tomita of Japan and Olympic gold medalist Choi. American Maddie Mastro, Japanese rider Sara Shimizu and Chinese teenager Patti Zhou are also among the women’s field.
Shimizu won the final two events of the inaugural Snow League season, while Zhou earned a full-time roster spot after winning an event at Yunding Snow Park.
Eileen Gu in a Snow League athlete portrait ahead of Season Two of competition
The Snow League
Men’s and Women’s Freeski
In men’s freeski, New Zealand’s Luke Harrold returns as defending league champion. The field also includes two-time Olympic gold medalist David Wise, three-time Olympic medalist Nick Goepper and Olympic silver medalist Gus Kenworthy, who recently switched back to representing the United States after competing for Great Britain.
New Zealand’s Fin Melville Ives, who won The Snow League World Challenge at his home mountain of Cardrona in September, is set to make his regular season league debut.
Gu, the defending women’s freeski champion and reigning Olympic champion, will compete alongside Olympic medalists Fanghui Li of China and Zoe Atkin of Great Britain. The three occupied the entire women’s freeski halfpipe podium at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Revised Season Two Format
The league is increasing its freeski field from 16 athletes to 24 for Season Two. Eight wildcards will also be added at each event, supplementing the 52 athletes who have qualified for the season.
Competition will follow a head-to-head format, with athletes advancing through successive rounds. The revised three-day schedule will include qualifying on the first day, quarterfinals on the second and semifinals and finals on the third. Both snowboard and freeski events will take place each day.
Results across the three stops will determine four individual world championship titles: men’s and women’s snowboard and men’s and women’s freeski. The champions will be crowned at the season finale in LAAX.
Snow League COO Ian Warda pointed to the performances of Shimizu and Zhou in the first season as examples of how emerging competitors could change the title races. He also highlighted the close contest between Harrold and Canadian freeskier Brendan Mackay, whose championship battle was decided by a final run in LAAX.
“Expanding freeski and bringing both sports to every event creates more opportunities for athletes and more compelling matchups for fans,” said Omer Atesmen, Snow League CEO.
How to Watch
All three events of Season Two will stream live in the U.S. on Peacock and worldwide on The Snow League’s YouTube channel. European viewers will be able to watch live on HBO Max, with highlights programming on Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2 and TNT Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland. NBC will also air encore presentations of the event in the U.S.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com