“This bone that I broke is called the navicular, and I shattered the bottom of it and popped it out. That bone only really ever breaks when you were in a car accident. You shatter your whole foot, like every bone, so it’s like this really rare injury that not many people thought it was even going to be possible to be back snowboarding – let alone being at the Olympics.”
Like most Winter Olympians, Hughes is no stranger to injuries. He’s had surgery nine times on his knees (he did his ACL just before his Olympic debut in 2014, and didn’t tell anyone) to go with a bit of work on his ankle. But this injury was different, and debilitating.
Few believed he could get back to where he is, but he refused to accept the fate others tried to assign him. “It’s been interesting,” he said.
“It’s been tough having to adjust to some things. I limp everywhere. I can’t really walk. I just need constant help. And I’ve just been really lucky that I have a great support network behind me that has been great – everyone at home has been awesome.
“Footy players, they’ll do a stress fracture on it and they’re out for eight months. Ten months later, I’ve shattered it and I’m back here. I’m very happy to be back at the Games – but that’s half the job.”
Jarryd Hughes won silver in the men’s snowboard cross in 2018.Credit: Getty Images
A silver medallist at Pyeongchang 2018 who flamed out at the last Games in Beijing, Hughes is chasing gold, despite everything. He returned to competing a few weeks ago for back-to-back World Cups – the first after just four days of preparation – and did enough to earn automatic Olympic selection. He has not finished on the podium in almost two years, but he knows he’s still got excellence within him.
“I’m going to need a Panadol sponsorship after this, that’s for sure,” he laughed.
Loading
The lead-up to the snowboard cross events has not been without controversy. Before the Games, a video was circulated – which this masthead has seen – of the Italian snowboarders purportedly being granted early access to the remodelled Livigno track on January 23.
The vision put a few noses out of joint within the snowboarding community, including in the Australian team, but Olympic organisers said no favours were being granted to the hosts, saying they were only there for the purposes of “technical verification” of the start.
“No training activities on the courses have been authorised for any team, including the Italian Team, outside the official training program or activities formally communicated to and approved by FIS [the international body for skiing and snowboarding] and the IOC,” a statement from the Milano Cortina 2026 organising committee said.
That’s good enough for Hughes, who played a straight bat to questions about whether the Italians were given a leg-up.
“It’s not my job to manage everybody else,” he said. “I mean, if the FIS have approved it and everything’s all good, all good. But we’re all professionals. My job is to turn up and race, not worry about what happened before.”
The Winter Olympic Games will be broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
