"We were born on the snow: we put on our first pair of skis at the age of one, if I'm not mistaken. Our parents run a high-altitude refuge in the heart of the Emilian Apennines, between the town of Corno alle Scale and Lake Scaffaiolo: for us, it was all extremely natural. Gymnastics and figure skating were then added to our passion for snow. Freestyle skiing encompasses all these elements: the dimension of winter sports and aerial evolutions." Miro Tabanelli, who will be twenty-one next November, describes the path that has led him and his sister Flora, who will celebrate her eighteenth birthday next November, to the top of the world of freestyle skiing, the sport in which jumps, tricks, choreography in the air and on different structures are performed with skis on their feet. Among the different disciplines that make up freestyle, the two excel above all in the one called "big air", which involves performing evolutions in the air, taking advantage of the speed guaranteed by the descent of a long ramp: Miro was the first Italian athlete to get on the podium of a freestyle big air World Cup race, winning silver at Copper Mountain in December 2023; the same month, in Beijing, in the same category, Flora won third place, earning gold four weeks later at the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games.
The successes continued for both of them: last January, in Kreischberg, Flora won her first big air World Cup victory, a result replicated by her brother a few months later in Tignes – the French ski resort where the first Freestyle Skiing World Championships were held in 1986. At the Winter X Games in Aspen 2025 – a circuit of competitions dedicated to extreme sports organized by the US television broadcaster ESPN – the two siblings triumphed, becoming big air champions. At the end of this World Cup season, Flora won both the specialty trophy (big air) and the general trophy, winning gold, again in big air, at the World Championships in Engadine on the last weekend of March. Miro is the first professional in the world to have successfully completed a double cork 2340 stale fish, a move that consists of a jump with 6.5 complete rotations in the air, for a total of 2340 degrees.
When they think about their discipline and reflect on the combinations of figures they manage to close, moving with elegance and fluidity in the air, they say: "constant practice is fundamental. We train on the slopes in winter" – between Pozza di Fassa, where Flora attends Ski&Ice College, and Livigno – "and off-snow in summer, in gyms with ad hoc equipment to simulate jumps and landings, between inflatable mats and structures built with materials capable of replicating the qualities of a snow-covered track. This way, we can accurately and safely decipher the movements to complete a trick before "taking it" to the snow. In this sport, visualisation is everything – being able to picture your body in the air is the starting point. Repeating that movement over and over again is the key to engrain it in your mind. We work on the explosiveness and muscular endurance of the core, to be compact and increase stability during the final phase: the heights from which we land are considerable. We then focus on endurance: the season is full of events and there are numerous laps to complete in each race. Power and control play an equivalent role in freestyle: the first intervenes at the time of the jump; the second manifests itself in the air ".
All the victories achieved over the last few seasons occupy a special place in the memory of the two, but it is perhaps the shared success of Aspen last January that arouses the most feelings. Flora remembers the lights that illuminated the track – the races were held in the evening – and the warmth of the spectators in Colorado; Miro points out how the perfect snow and jumping conditions ensured excellent performances. Both agree that just participating in the competition was an important goal for them: "You take part in the X Games by invitation, qualifying and competing with all the strongest athletes in the ranking was priceless. The two gold medals were the crowning of a dream." The next Olympics? "The Olympic competitions have a completely different flavour," commented Miro.
The pressure and media interest that followed all these results doesn't seem to worry them. "Keeping the focus on what you do is what matters," says Miro. "Our team supports us and prepares us for these aspects of sports life. Being able to talk about this sport – which is relatively "young" and still little known – also thanks to the attention that our victories "capture" is really positive for me. Pressure exists and should not be ignored, but I believe that everyone learns to manage it in their own way. I always try to carefully visualize the entire race before it happens". Flora also mentions visualization: "Before going down the track, I "see" the sequence of jumps and evolutions in my head. I retrace them. I always try to improve myself and express myself in my performances."
"One of the meanings I attribute to this discipline is that of overcoming limits," concludes Miro. "Always starting from experience, however: knowing that you have a solid foundation to rely on is what drives you to want to go further and further. I would never have been able to ask for that jump, the 2340, without first testing all the previous steps. I also think it's important to try to do and have something unique, something personal. Even in freestyle, you have to find your own key." On the subject of continuous improvement, Flora adds: “Pushing the limits is what every athlete thinks about every single day. Even the tiniest details make the biggest difference. Practice allows the pressure to decrease: my goal is to be as calm, confident and sure as possible when I go to the competition. Overcoming our limits is what we aspire to, and we do it consciously: you don't try a new evolution if you don't feel ready to do it."
When asked who or what inspires them, they answer easily. "There are two people I look up to," says Miro. "My first coach, Simone Canal, a figure I have always looked up to, in general and in the sporting context. And then our mother, our first fan and supporter". Flora also has two role models: "The first is definitely Miro, my brother: it was following his example that I started practicing this sport. Among the athletes of my discipline, I greatly admire Eileen Gu: she is a professional athlete, she studies and is also engaged in other fronts. She inspires me in trying to reconcile all the different aspects of my life: sports, training, and the passions to cultivate in my free time."
