Founded | 2004 |
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Headquarters | Netherlands |
BigAirBAG is a Dutch sports equipment manufacturer which produces a large, inflatable cushion. The company's product, also called BigAirBAG (BAB), [1] is intended to soften and secure the impact from landing tricks as part of a variety of extreme sports including snowboarding, skiing, BMX, mountain biking, mountain boarding and indoor climbing. [2]
The company was established in 2004 by Dutch snowboarders who wanted to improve their technical skills with reduced risk of injuries. The BigAirBAG first gained popularity in the indoor parks throughout the Netherlands (SnowPlanet, SnowWorld [3] ). Within two years, a number of resorts in Europe and internationally had deployed BigAirBAGs.[ citation needed ]
The BigAirBAG is built upon the 'fall cushion' concept used in professional stunts. The BAB incorporates two nylon air 'pillows': [1] the lower one is firm, ensuring stability while the upper one is soft, enabling smoothness of the fall. Two electrical blowers are placed in the sides of the bag to keep it inflated while it is being used. It is normally placed below the kicker (in run) of a jump and when a rider lands on it, the holes in the upper layer let air out thus absorbing the fall. The BAB has additional layers on the top ('impact deck') and on the sides to protect the cushions from damage. BABs are produced in several sizes. [4]
In Europe, the BigAirBAG is used in 44 resort parks, in countries such as Switzerland, Italy, France, Austria, Turkey, Norway, Finland, Bulgaria, Spain, etc. Globally, BigAirBAG is used in Dubai, [5] Lebanon, Chile, New Zealand, [6] Iran, etc. It is in partnership with Danish social network My Snowparks enabling users to map the resorts, share information about the parks, the weather conditions, etc. [7] The BigAirBAG has been employed as part of the Swatch summer and winter parks. [8]
The BigAirBAG regularly supports events in the Netherlands and worldwide including events and free style camps in Spaarnwoude, Den Bosch, [9] Utrecht, [10] Norway (Tacky Invitational Hafjell [11] ), Andorra, Italy, etc. In 2006 BigAirBAG provided the support for the professional snowboarders competing for the world's record in airtime in David Benedek’s Red Bull Gap Session.
Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered slope while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic Games.
The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organised, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Participants compete to win bronze, silver, and gold medals, as well as prize money.
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Peetu Piiroinen is a Finnish snowboarder. He is a three-time Olympian representing Finland in snowboarding at the 2010 Winter Olympics, 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 Winter Olympics. Peetu made the finals in all 3 Olympics and won the silver medal at the 2010 Games.
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Zoi Sadowski-Synnott is a New Zealand snowboarder, specialising in slopestyle and big air competitions. She won the gold medal in the women's slopestyle and silver in the big air at the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming New Zealand's first gold medallist and first to win multiple medals at the Winter Olympics. She also won the bronze medal in the women's big air at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and won the women's slopestyle title at the 2019 World Championships.
This glossary of skiing and snowboarding terms is a list of definitions of terms and jargon used in skiing, snowboarding, and related winter sports.