โThis 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 itโs like this really rare injury that not many people thought it was even going to be possible to be back snowboarding โ let alone being at the Olympics.โ
Like most Winter Olympians, Hughes is no stranger to injuries. Heโs had surgery nine times on his knees (he did his ACL just before his Olympic debut in 2014, and didnโt 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. โItโs been interesting,โ he said.
โItโs been tough having to adjust to some things. I limp everywhere. I canโt really walk. I just need constant help. And Iโve just been really lucky that I have a great support network behind me that has been great โ everyone at home has been awesome.
โFooty players, theyโll do a stress fracture on it and theyโre out for eight months. Ten months later, Iโve shattered it and Iโm back here. Iโm very happy to be back at the Games โ but thatโs half the job.โ
Jarryd Hughes won silver in the menโs 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 โ the first after just four days of preparation โ and did enough to earn automatic Olympic selection. He has not finished on the podium in almost two years, but he knows heโs still got excellence within him.
โIโm going to need a Panadol sponsorship after this, thatโs for sure,โ he laughed.
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The lead-up to the snowboard cross events has not been without controversy. Before the Games, a video was circulated โ which this masthead has seen โ 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 โtechnical verificationโ of the start.
โNo 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,โ a statement from the Milano Cortina 2026 organising committee said.
Thatโs good enough for Hughes, who played a straight bat to questions about whether the Italians were given a leg-up.
โItโs not my job to manage everybody else,โ he said. โI mean, if the FIS have approved it and everythingโs all good, all good. But weโre all professionals. My job is to turn up and race, not worry about what happened before.โ
The Winter Olympic Games will be broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.
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