Snowboarding: Slalom veteran Tomoka Takeuchi eyes Olympic history

After reaching the World Cup podium for the first time in nearly four years, veteran slalom snowboarder Tomoka Takeuchi has Japanese Olympic history in her sights.The 41-year-old placed third in the parallel giant slalom World Cup round in Scuol, Switzerland, on Jan. 11, earning her first medal on the circuit since February 2021.In the process, Takeuchi provisionally met the eligibility criteria for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games, giving her the chance to contest a seventh consecutive Winter Olympics, the most ever for a Japanese woman.Having battled back pain for more than a year, Takeuchi h…READ FULL ARTICLE