Snowboarding at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games will be contested from Feb. 10-24, with medals awarded in ten different events.
Sochi in review
The slopestyle event made its Olympic debut in Sochi, and U.S. athletes swept the gold medals. Sage Kotsenburg landed a backside 1620, a trick he had never tried before, on his final jump to claim the men’s title. In the women’s competition, Jamie Anderson triumphed despite being in fifth place heading into her final run.
Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov successfully dethroned two-time Olympic halfpipe champion Shaun White. Podladtchikov, who is known as “I-Pod,” landed the double cork 1440 cleanly, while White did not. White finished fourth and did not earn any medals in Sochi.
American Kaitlyn Farrington edged three Olympic champions to earn the women’s halfpipe gold medal. But she retired in 2015 at the age of 25 due to a congenital spine condition.
Russia’s Vic Wild, who was born in the United States, won two gold medals for the host country. While he will likely attempt to defend his parallel giant slalom title, he will not have the opportunity to repeat in parallel slalom because the event was removed from the Olympic program.
Competition format
Big air will make its Olympic debut in PyeongChang, while parallel slalom was removed from the Olympic program:
- Men’s halfpipe
- Men’s slopestyle
- Men’s big air
- Men’s snowboard cross
- Men’s parallel giant slalom
- Women’s halfpipe
- Women’s slopestyle
- Women’s big air
- Women’s snowboard cross
- Women’s parallel giant slalom
Venue
Snowboarding events will take place in two different venues in the PyeongChang Mountain Cluster. Big air will be held in the Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre. All other snowboarding events will take place in the Bokwang Snow Park.
Athletes to watch
Men’s halfpipe
Ryo Aono, Japan Ayumu Hirano, Japan Taku Hiraoka, Japan
Iouri Podladtchikov, Switzerland
Taylor Gold, United States Shaun White, United States
Men’s slopestyle
Jamie Nicholls, Great Britain Lucien Koch, Switzerland Chris Corning, United States Brock Crouch, United States Brandon Davis, United States Sage Kotsenburg, United States
Men’s big air
Michael Ciccarelli, Canada Max Parrot, Canada
Seppe Smits, Belgium
Marcus Kleveland, Norway Chas Guldemond, United States
Men’s snowboard cross
Alex Pullin, Australia
Pierre Vaultier, France
Nikolay Olyunin, Russia Nick Baumgartner, United States Alex Deibold, United States
Men’s parallel giant slalom
Radoslav Yankov, Bulgaria
Roland Fischnaller, Italy Vic Wild, Russia Nevin Galmarini, Switzerland
Zan Kosir, Slovenia
Women’s halfpipe
Cai Xuetong, China Liu Jiayu, China Kelly Clark, United States Chloe Kim, United States Maddie Mastro, United States
Women’s slopestyle
Enni Rukajarvi, Finland
Silvia Mittermueller, Germany
Cheryl Maas, Netherlands Jamie Anderson, United States Karly Shorr, United States
Women’s big air
Anna Gasser, Austria Cheryl Maas, Netherlands Lia-Mara Boesch, Switzerland Jaime Anderson, United States Julia Marino, United States
Women’s snowboard cross Dominique Maltais, Canada
Eva Samkova, Czech Republic Nelly Moenne Loccoz, France Chloe Trespeuch, France Lindsey Jacobellis, United States
Women’s parallel giant slalom Ester Ledecka, Czech Republic Tomoka Takeuchi, Japan Alena Zavarzina, Russia Ladina Jenny, Switzerland Patrizia Kummer, Switzerland