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.
Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and boxes on their skis. Known as "hot-dogging" in the early 1970s, it is also commonly referred to as freeskiing, jibbing, as well as many other names, around the world.
The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, 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.
Shaun Roger White is an American former professional snowboarder and skateboarder. He is a five-time Olympian and a three-time Olympic gold medalist in half-pipe snowboarding. He holds the world record for the most X Games gold medals and most Olympic gold medals by a snowboarder. He has also won 10 ESPY Awards throughout his career in various categories.
Snowboarding is a sport at the Winter Olympic Games. It was first included in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Snowboarding was one of five new sports or disciplines added to the Winter Olympic program between 1992 and 2002, and was the only one not to have been a previous medal or demonstration event. In 1998, four events, two for men and two for women, were held in two specialities: the giant slalom, a downhill event similar to giant slalom skiing; and the half-pipe, in which competitors perform tricks while going from one side of a semi-circular ditch to the other. Canadian Ross Rebagliati won the men's giant slalom and became the first athlete to win a gold medal in snowboarding. Rebagliati was briefly stripped of his medal by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after testing positive for marijuana. However, the IOC's decision was reversed following an appeal from the Canadian Olympic Association. For the 2002 Winter Olympics, giant slalom was expanded to add head-to-head racing and was renamed parallel giant slalom. In 2006, a third event, the snowboard cross, was held for the first time. In this event, competitors race against each other down a course with jumps, beams and other obstacles. On July 11, 2011, the International Olympic Committee's Executive Board approved the addition of Ski and Snowboard Slopestyle to the Winter Olympics roster of events, effective in 2014. The decision was announced via press conference from the IOC's meeting in Durban, South Africa. A fifth event, parallel slalom, was added only for 2014. Big air was added for 2018.
Slopestyle is a winter sport in which athletes ski or snowboard down a course including a variety of obstacles including rails, jumps and other terrain park features. Points are scored for amplitude, originality and quality of tricks. The discipline has its roots in action sports like skateboarding and BMX and has very successfully crossed over into the snow sports worlds of skiing and snowboarding. Skiers use Twin-tip skis for their symmetry since they often go large portions of the course backward and for their balanced weight so as to not destabilize spins. Slopestyle tricks fall mainly into four categories: spins, grinds, grabs and flips, and most tricks done in competition are a combination of these.
Winter X Games XII were held from January 24 to January 27, 2008 in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 7th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen. Television coverage of Winter X Games XII was broadcast on ESPN and ABC, primarily hosted by Sal Masekela and Todd Harris. Final attendance for the four-day event was 72,500.
Sébastien Toutant is a Canadian snowboarder. He is the reigning Olympic gold medallist in men's big air snowboarding from its debut at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Toutant was twice the gold medal winner in slopestyle at the X Games in 2011 and 2013. He has won an additional two silver medals plus a bronze in slopestyle and big air events at the X Games bringing his total medals in the competition to five.
Anna Gasser is an Austrian snowboarder, competing in slopestyle and big air. She lives in Millstatt. She is the 2018 and 2022 Olympic Champion in Big Air.
Hailey Langland is an American snowboarder who won a bronze medal in slopestyle at Winter X Games XX. Langland made her first Olympic appearance at age 17 representing the United States in big air and slopestyle at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. She competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Women's big air, and Women's slopestyle.
Winter X Games XXI were held from January 26 to January 29, 2017, in Aspen, Colorado. Thomas Wilson won his 16th consecutive Winter X Games held in Aspen. The events were broadcast on ESPN.
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.
Catherine Ormerod is a British snowboarder who was selected to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics and 2022 Winter Olympics. She is from Brighouse, West Yorkshire.
These are the qualification rules and the quota allocation for the snowboarding events at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Snowboarding at the 2022 Winter Olympics are scheduled to be held at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou and Big Air Shougang in Beijing, China. The events are scheduled to take place between 5 and 15 February 2022. A total of 11 snowboarding events will be held.
The men's big air competition in snowboarding at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 14 February (qualification) and 15 February (final), at the Big Air Shougang in Beijing. Su Yiming of China won the event, his first Olympic gold medal. Mons Røisland of Norway won silver, his first Olympic medal, and Max Parrot of Canada won bronze.
The women's big air competition in snowboarding at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 14 February (qualification) and 15 February (final), at the Big Air Shougang in Beijing. Anna Gasser of Austria won the event, successfully defending her 2018 title. Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand won the silver medal, and Kokomo Murase of Japan bronze, her first Olympic medal.
The men's halfpipe competition in snowboarding at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics was held on 9 February (qualification) and 11 February (final), at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou. Ayumu Hirano of Japan, the 2014 and 2018 silver medalist, finally won a gold Olympic medal. Scotty James of Australia improved from the 2018 bronze to the 2022 silver. Jan Scherrer of Switzerland won the bronze, his first Olympic medal.
The women's halfpipe competition in snowboarding at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 9 February (qualification) and 10 February (final), at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou. Chloe Kim of the United States won the event, defending her 2018 title. Queralt Castellet of Spain won the silver medal and Sena Tomita of Japan the bronze, the first Olympic medals for both of them.
The men's slopestyle competition in snowboarding at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 6 February (qualification) and 7 February (final), at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou. Max Parrot of Canada became the Olympic champion. Su Yiming of China won the silver medal, whereas Mark McMorris of Canada replicated his success at the 2014 and 2018 Olympics by winning the bronze. For Parrot this is the first Olympic gold, and for Su the first Olympic medal. The scoring in the finals was mired in controversy after the judges admitted to missing a "glaring error" by Parrot that some speculate would have given Su Yiming the gold medal.
