Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface 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 a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc.. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Moorad. As of early 2024, MSP Sports Capital has overseen four major X Games events as well as other related activations.
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.
Antti-Matias Antero Autti is a Finnish snowboarder who won the Men's Superpipe at the 2005 Winter X Games. He is one of two snowboarders, along with Steve Fisher, ever to beat American snowboarder Shaun White in the X Games Superpipe.
Torah Jane Bright is an Australian former professional snowboarder. She is Australia's most successful Winter Olympian, former Olympic gold and silver medalist, two time X Games gold medalist, three time US Open winner, two time Global Open Champion, three time World Superpipe Champion, former TTR World Champion and recipient of the Best Female Action Sports Athlete at the ESPY awards. In 2014 Bright became the first Olympic athlete to qualify for all three snowboarding disciplines; halfpipe, slopestyle and boarder-cross.
Kelly Clark is an American snowboarder who won halfpipe gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Clark was born in Newport, Rhode Island. She started snowboarding when she was 7 years old, began competing in 1999, and became a member of the US Snowboard team in 2000. On January 25, 2019, at the Winter X Games in Aspen, she announced her retirement from the sport.
Hannah Teter is an American snowboarder. She is an Olympic champion, having won the gold medal in the halfpipe at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy and silver at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. She has also won bronze at the 2005 FIS World Championships at Whistler, British Columbia, and has a total of six World Cup victories in her career. In January 2010, Teter was named to the US Team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She won the silver medal in women's halfpipe at the Vancouver Games. Teter came in fourth at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Travis Rice is an American professional snowboarder. He is #13 on Snowboarder magazine's list of the 20 most influential snowboarders of the last 20 years. The 41-year-old has featured in more than twenty snowboarding films. Rice's biggest claim to fame was when he arrived at Snowboarder magazine's Superpark contest at Mammoth Mountain and launched a 'mammoth' of a backside rodeo across a 117-foot gap jump. He has been considered "the Paul Revere" of the big mountain freestyle movement. In 2013, Rice was named the best contemporary snowboarder in the world by Red Bull; Rice was also hailed as one of the greatest snowboarders of all time by numerous writers and publications.
Steve Fisher also known as "The Fish" is an American professional snowboarder and the 2004 and 2007 Winter X Games Champion. He was once ranked the #1 halfpipe rider in the United States by the USSA ranking system.
Iouri Iourеvich Podladtchikov is a Russian-born Swiss snowboarder. He rides goofy stance. He has competed since 2000. He won the gold medal for the halfpipe at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Scott James is an Australian snowboarder and four-time Olympian. He was the flag bearer for Australia at the 2018 Winter Olympics, where he won a bronze medal in the halfpipe.
Mark Lee McMorris is a Canadian professional snowboarder who specializes in slopestyle and big air events. A three-time Olympic bronze medallist, he placed third in each of the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics, and 2022 Winter Olympics in the slopestyle event. While filming for Transworld Snowboarding's "Park Sessions" video in March 2011, Mark became the first person to land a Backside Triple Cork 1440. More recently, on April 28, 2018, Mark landed the world's first Double Cork off a rail, the Front-Board Double Cork 1170, with a melancholy grab. Mark has also left his mark at X-Games and other events. In 2012 and 2013, Mark won back-to-back gold medals in Winter X Games in the slopestyle event. In 2023 he defended his Winter X Games gold medal in the men's slopestyle to set a record for the most Winter X Games medals with 22.
Half-pipe skiing is the sport of riding snow skis on a half-pipe. Competitors perform a series of tricks while going down the pipe. The current world record for highest jump in a half-pipe is held by Joffrey Pollet-Villard, with 26 feet 3 inches. The sport is considered to be dangerous compared to other sports, and helmets are required to be worn during competitions. Half-pipe skiing has been part of the Winter X Games since 2002, and made its Olympic debut at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. David Wise of the United States of America became the first Olympic champion in this discipline with a total of 92.00 points.
Arielle Townsend Gold is an American Olympic medalist snowboarder.
Spencer O’Brien is a Canadian snowboarder. She was born in Alert Bay, British Columbia, and is of Indigenous descent. She won the gold medal in slopestyle at the 2013 FIS Snowboarding World Championships.
Chloe Kim is an American snowboarder and two-time Olympic gold medalist. At the 2018 Winter Olympics, she became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal when she won gold in the women's snowboard halfpipe at 17 years old.
Taylor Gold is an American Olympian snowboarder. He competes in the halfpipe.
Kaitlyn Brooke Farrington is an American former professional snowboarder and amateur freestyle snowmobiler who grew up on a cattle ranch near Bellevue, Idaho, and now lives in Whitefish, Montana. She won the gold medal in the women's half-pipe competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Prior to her Olympic debut, she competed in the 2010 European Winter X Games and won the gold medal. On December 8, 2022, Farrington was announced as a backup crew member of the dearMoon project, a lunar spaceflight mission.
Ben Ferguson is an American snowboarder from Bend, Oregon.
Patrick Burgener, better known as Pat Burgener, is a Swiss professional snowboarder, two-time Olympian and musician. Pat joined the Swiss national team at the age of 14 and landed the world’s first Switch Backside Triple Cork 1440 in April 2011. Pat competed for Switzerland in the men's halfpipe at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang where he finished 5th overall. He earned two bronze medals in the halfpipe events at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2017 and again in 2019. Pat was named to his second Swiss Olympic Snowboard Freestyle Team on 18 January 2022. He represented Switzerland in the men’s halfpipe at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing where he qualified for the finals and placed 11th overall. His career results also include nine World Cup podiums, five European Cup podiums and seven Swiss Champion titles respectively in halfpipe and early on in big air.
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