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Winter Olympics 2026: Hot mic catches snowboarding broadcaster complaining about 'boring' big air final

· Yahoo Sports

The final of the 2026 Winter Olympics' big air snowboarding event saw defending gold medalist Su Yiming of China try the most daring trick of the competition in an attempt to leapfrog Japan's Kira Kimura and Kimata Ryoma, only for him to fall and create a scoring controversy for the bronze medal.

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NBC broadcaster Todd Richards apparently wasn't moved, as lingering viewers learned via hot mic after the competition ended.

"That was boring. That was so boring. The qualifier was way more exciting," Richards said before the Peacock feed switched to a figure skating promo.

Richards apparently knew what happened immediately after stepping away from the mic, as he soon posted a reel on Instagram saying his phone was getting flooded with DMs. He proceeded to stand by his opinion, arguing the final was much less exciting than the qualifiers, especially when it came to the diversity of tricks.

However, he conditionally apologized if anyone believed he was criticizing the athletes involved:

"I said 'That was boring. That was so boring. I thought the qualifiers were better.' And I did. I did think the qualifiers were more exciting. This had nothing to do with the athletes. It had everything to do with the drama that went down in the qualifiers. We had Val Guseli getting the call-up four hours before the event went. He didn't even know he was going to be in it and came and threw down. We had all kinds of different tricks being done. Butters off the lip, different kinds of axis of rotation, all these riders trying to get it by doing creative spins. 

"And the final, a lot of people fell. And a lot of people truly did the same trick. It was a backside 1980 and a switchback-side 1980 the entire time, pretty much by the entire field. It has nothing to do with what these athletes do, because the riders come down here and they throw down. I have the utmost respect for them. It really just lent itself to the format. And I thought the qualifier had a lot more excitement. 

"So I apologize if anyone took that as I was calling out any of the riders here, because it truly wasn't about that. These guys are my heroes, they are my friends, they are my colleagues and they are all rippers."

It's a straightforward enough explanation, though the Winter Olympics still hardly needs its own broadcasters complaining about the entertainment value of some events. And yes, much worse has been caught on hot mics in the world of sports.

Richards competed in the 1998 Olympics in the snowboarding halfpipe for Team USA, finishing 16th. He also won two Winter X Games halfpipe titles, including the inaugural Winter X Games in 1997. This is the sixth Winter Olympics he's worked as a snowboarding analyst at NBC.

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