Iouri Podladtchikov announces snowboard comeback

Iouri Podladtchikov, the 2014 Olympic snowboard halfpipe champion known as I-Pod, is ending a five-year retirement to bid for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.

“I still feel an incredible amount of desire and joy,” the 36-year-old Podladtchikov said, according to a translation of a Swiss ski and snowboard federation press release. “I see my return to the World Cup as a great opportunity for a conciliatory career conclusion. My goal is the 2026 Olympic Games.”

Podladtchikov plans to compete at next week’s Laax Open in Switzerland. He competed at Laax in January 2020 in his last contest before retiring.

Podladtchikov has remained listed as active by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation. He was listed as entering an event in Laax last March but ultimately did not start.

He has also been coaching.

“I’ve been playing with the idea for a long time,” Podladtchikov said, according to a translation of a CH Media report. “At the beginning it was just a small idea. Slowly it rolled up like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger.”

Podladtchikov had ended his competitive career at age 31 after a string of significant injuries.

In January 2018, he sustained a traumatic brain injury and cerebral hemorrhages in a Winter X Games crash, sidelining him from defending his Olympic title in PyeongChang.

In December 2018, he sustained a concussion and broken nose in a crash at his comeback event in China.

In February 2019, he ruptured an Achilles tendon while at the world championships in Park City, Utah.

At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Podladtchikov overcame a slushy halfpipe to take gold with his signature YOLO