Sochi Sports Guide: Snowboarding

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Date: 6-22 February
Venue: Rosa Khutor Extreme Park

Overview

Snowboard, once the reserve of cool, rebellious youth, grew as a mainstream sport from the 1970s through the 1990s and made its Olympic debut at the 1998 games in Nagano, Japan.

It is a challenging sport that combines technical skill with gravity-defying bravery, and with its vibrant atmosphere, unique culture and crowd-pleasing tricks, snowboard is now one of the most popular sports in the Winter Olympics.

Sochi will see 65 snowboarders compete over 10 events: men’s and women’s competitions in the halfpipe, snowboard cross, parallel giant slalom, parallel slalom, and slopestyle. The parallel slalom and slopestyle events make their debut in 2014.

Jargon buster

Halfpipe: A U-shaped structure, with a two sidewalls of equal height and a sloping valley, on which halfpipe competitions are held.

Vertical: The top of the sidewall of a halfpipe. The straightened form of the vertical allows the snowboarder to fly into the air.

Lip: The top of the vertical wall on a halfpipe. A lip trick is any trick performed on the lip of the wall.

Goofy: To ride a snowboard with the right foot forward. This is in contrast to ‘regular’, or with the left foot forward. Snowboarders are typically either goofy or regular.

Handplant: A trick in which the snowboarder propels her body into the air whilst planting either one or both hands on the lip of the halfpipe or on an obstacle, as in a handstand-like position.

Grab: Any trick in which the rider takes hold of a side of the snowboard in the air with either (or both) hand.

Frontside: Can either refer to the side of the snowboard which the chest faces and on which the toes rest, or the side of the halfpipe that is ahead of the snowboarder as she comes down the vertical. There are a variety of frontside tricks, such as the frontside air, frontside lipslide, and frontslide boardslide.

Fakie: To ride backwards, also called ‘switch’. An Air-to-Fakie is a trick in which a snowboarder approaches the wall riding forward, flies into the air, and lands riding backwards.

Basic rules

Snowboard is contested over a variety of differing event competitions. Each has its own styles, rules, and point systems.

The halfpipe event is held on a U-shaped halfpipe course. As in ski halfpipe, halfpipe snowboarders use speed and momentum gained on the sloping part of the halfpipe to propel themselves into the air on each side of the course, and perform acrobatic tricks. Scoring takes both difficulty of routine and execution into account.

Like ski cross, snowboard cross is a vigorous event held on a course that includes various obstacles, jumps, banks and whoops (moguls). The competition includes early-round qualifying heats leading to two semi-final groups in which snowboarders start the course together and battle for a place in the final round. Scores are based on technical and stylistic performance, with marks given to amplitude (height of manoeuvres), quality of rotations, and overall impression. The final is a hotly contested, exciting run to determine medal position.

The parallel giant slalom feature knock-out rounds of two athletes competing head-to-head on parallel courses. As in skiing slalom, competitors race downhill and zig-zag through red and blue gates. The snowboarder with the best results of the pair moves on to the next qualifying round, and the athlete who remains undefeated throughout is the winner. The parallel slalom is similar to the parallel giant slalom, with the major difference being that the gates are further apart in the giant slalom event.

In the slopestyle event, snowboarders compete on a slope containing a variety of obstacles, including rails, jumps, and quarterpipes. Slopestyle is held over elimination stages leading to semi-final and final rounds. Each snowboarder has two runs each, and scoring is based on fluidity of the ride, creativity, technical difficulty, and style. Snowboard slopestyle is similar to the freestyle skiing event of the same name.

Ones to watch

Jenny Jones is a three-time X Games gold medallist in Slopestyle, although the event has previously not been included in Olympic competition. With Slopestyle’s introduction in Sochi, Jones will be looking to extend her medal collection to include an Olympic gold.

22 year old Aimee Fuller (pictured above) became the first woman ever to land a double backflip in competition, and is also a strong contender for a Slopestyle medal.

And in the Snowboard Cross event, Zoe Gillings is representing Team GB in her third Olympic games. She finished 8th in 2010, and won bronze medals at the 2011 and 2012 World Cups. GB women have thus far come up short in the snowboard medal haul, but 2014 could be the year this changes.

Rivalries and favourites

The Americans have dominated the women’s snowboard podium since the sport’s Olympic debut in the 1998 Nagano games. Team USA will be looking to build on their eight medals, and such veteran medallists as Hannah Teter, Lindsay Jacobellis, and Kelly Clark competing alongside a host of young talent, it is looking likely that this will happen.

Jamie Anderson won the Slopestyle at the 2013 Winter X Games and is expected to challenge GB’s Jones and Fuller for gold. Elena Hight, at only 23 years old, is competing in her third Olympics.

Who to follow on Twitter

@jennyjonessnow
@zoegillings
@aimee_fuller
@TeamBSS – British Ski & Snowboard
@Kellyclarkfdn
@hannahteter

Olympic fact

Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff is one of a long line of snow sport champions. Her uncle, Peter Brockhoff, was a member of the Australian ski team at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics, and her great-aunt Joyce Brockhoff was a successful skier and pioneer of women’s equality in snow sports. Belle is herself a vocal supporter of equality in sport, serving as an Athlete Ally Ambassador.

Erin Walters, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

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