Below is information about snowboarding at the Olympics.
A snowboard is a sports equipment designed for high-speed descent from snow-covered slopes and mountains. A snowboard is a flat structure consisting of a sliding surface in contact with the snow: a base - a deck on which fastenings for the legs are installed and a metal edge running along the edge of the entire projectile and designed to control the movement of the snowboard using techniques called the general term "edging" . The sport itself - snowboarding or snowboarding - got its name from the name of the sports equipment.
The first modern resemblance to a snowboard was a snurfer (snurfer is a word made up of two others - snow ("snow") and surf - "surf"), invented and made by Sherman Poppen for his daughter in 1965 in Muskegon, Michigan (USA). He glued two skis into one. The very next year, production of the snurfer began as a children's toy. In design it was very close to a skateboard deck, only without wheels.
In 1979, near Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA), the first ever world snurfing championship was held. Snowboarding popularizer Jake Burton also took part in these competitions and improved the snurf by adding leg mounts. This championship is considered to be the first snowboarding competition in history as an independent discipline.
In 1982, the first national slalom competition in the United States was held in Suicide Six (near Woodstock, Vermont).
In 1983, the first world halfpipe championship was held in Soda Springs, California.
The growing popularity of snowboarding led to its official recognition as a sport: in 1984, the first World Cup was held in the Austrian ski resort of Zurs. A year earlier, the International Snowboard Association (ISA) was created to develop general rules for competitions and organize their conduct.
At the Olympic Games in Nagano (Japan) in 1998, snowboarding made its debut as an Olympic sport. The program included giant slalom and halfpipe. Parallel giant slalom appeared in the Olympic program at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City (USA). Snowboard cross first entered the Olympic program in 2006 in Turin (Italy).
In 1995, snowboarding became part of the Russian Alpine Skiing Federation, which entailed changing the name of the organization to the modern one - the Russian Alpine Skiing and Snowboard Federation (FGSSR).
In 2010, Russian athlete Ekaterina Ilyukhina won silver in the parallel giant slalom at the Vancouver Olympics, giving Russia its first medal in this sport.
Representatives of the United States performed most successfully in snowboarding at the Winter Olympics, winning 19 medals (7 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze).
The Olympic snowboarding program includes ten events: halfpipe (men and women), parallel giant slalom (men and women), snowboard cross (men and women), slopestyle (men and women) and parallel slalom (men and women). ). Olympic competitions in parallel slalom and slopestyle will be held for the first time at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
Halfpipe competitions are held on a special track shaped like a half-pipe. This allows riders to move from one wall to another at speed and perform acrobatics in the air. The athletes' task is to make the most difficult jumps possible, demonstrating perfect technique.
In parallel giant slalom competitions, two athletes starting at the same time run parallel courses. Based on the results of the qualifying round, the best athletes advance to the finals, who then compete in a knockout round. The winner is the one who wins all races.
The snowboard cross track consists of a variety of humps, obstacles, counter slopes and jumps. All competition participants are selected in qualifying races - a single or double speed run of the track. Based on the results of the qualifications, places in the final groups are distributed (the starting number 1 is given to the athlete with the best qualifying result, and so on), where the groups of leaders, simultaneously passing the course, compete in a dynamic competition for the right to get to the finals. The final group heat determines the medalists.
In the slopestyle discipline, athletes perform on a slope that has various kinds of obstacles (rails, quarterpipes, jumps). The technical characteristics of the route are prescribed by the rules of the International Ski Federation. The format of the competition is a knockout system with semi-finals and finals, 2 heats in each round.
Competitions in the parallel slalom discipline are held as follows: two athletes descend along parallel tracks with blue and red flags installed on them. The winner is the athlete who completes the distance faster, subject to the rules of the course (trajectory, penalties, etc.). The routes must match each other as closely as possible in terms of parameters: terrain, snow cover, number of gates.
So let's get started:
Slopestyle, men:
1. Redmond Gerard (USA)
2. Maxence Parrot (Canada)
3. Mark McMorris (Canada)
Interesting fact: Seventeen-year-old American Redmond Gerard won his first gold medal at the PyeongChang Olympics in snowboarding in the slopestyle discipline, scoring 87.16 points. He admitted that he still does not fully believe in his victory. “It's crazy, I can't believe it,” Gerard said. “I’m shaking all over, not knowing whether it’s from the cold or from excitement. I am filled with delight. I didn't even think about being the first. I told myself: if only I don’t fail and end up last... I’ll give the Olympic medal to my mother. Let him keep it.” By the way, Gerard became the third in the list of the youngest winners of the Winter Olympics among men. Before him, bobsledder Billy Fisk from the USA won gold at the age of sixteen in 1928 and Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen in 1992.
Interesting fact: Canadian snowboarder Maxence Parrot took silver. He later said that the helmet saved him twice in the finals. “... I hit my head twice on the track, both times very hard. But I’m fine, I’m healthy,” Parro said. “My helmet saved me, and this allowed me to successfully complete the third attempt, and I was able to complete the course with a score of 86 points. An Olympic medal was one of the medals that I was missing in my career, and today I have this award. So I'm super happy!”
Interesting fact: just eleven months ago, Canadian Mark McMorris was on the brink of life and death. In March 2017, while riding with friends north of Vancouver, he flew into a tree at full speed. The collision resulted in a broken jaw, a fractured left arm, a ruptured spleen, a fractured pelvis, ribs and damage to the left lung. Mark was hospitalized and underwent two surgeries. He spent a month in bed and only six months after the injury returned to. As a result, he received an honorary bronze, which is very good, considering the above-mentioned circumstances! Mark's final result is 85.20 points.
Slopestyle, women:
1. Jamie Anderson (USA) - 83.00
2. Laurie Bloin (Canada) - 76.33
3. Enni Rukajarvi (Finland) - 75.38
Interesting fact: American snowboarder Jamie Anderson again won gold at this Olympics. She easily repeated her old achievement of the fourteenth year, when she returned as a winner from our Sochi.
Halfpipe, men:
1. Shaun White (USA) - 97.75
2. Ayumu Hirano (Japan) - 95.25
3. Scotty James (Australia) – 92
Interesting fact: World legend, “red beast” Shaun White again became first in the halfpipe. Note that White is one of the most titled snowboarders in the history of this sport; he won gold at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics. In addition, he is a 13-time winner of the World Winter Extreme Games (X-Games) in the slopestyle and superpipe disciplines.
Halfpipe, women:
1. Chloe Kim (USA) - 98.25
2. Liu Jiayu (China) - 89.75
3. Ariel Gold (USA) - 85.75
Interesting fact: Seventeen-year-old American Chloe Kim won gold at the 2018 Olympics. Kim is also a four-time winner of the X-Games, as well as a two-time champion of the Winter Youth Olympic Games. The Olympics in Pyeongchang became the debut “adult” for Kim.
Big Air, men:
1. Sebastien Toutant (Canada) - 174.25
2. Kylie Mack (USA) - 168.75
3. Billy Morgan (Great Britain) - 168.00
Interesting fact: Canadian snowboarder Sebastien Toutant is a two-time winner of the World Winter Extreme Games (“X-Games”) in slopestyle.
Big Air, women:
1. Anna Gasser (Austria) - 185.00
2. Jamie Anderson (USA) - 177.25
3. Zoe Sadowski-Sinnott (New Zealand) - 157.50
Snowboard cross, men:
1. Pierre Voltier (France)
2. Jarryd Hughes (Australia)
3. Regino Hernandez (Spain)
Interesting fact: Frenchman Pierre Voltier also took the championship title at the Games in Sochi four years ago. “It’s nice to get another gold after Sochi,” says Woltje. – “Emotions are overwhelming. I was lucky in the semi-finals. There were always some hiccups at the end. This put me at risk from competitors.” However, Pierre performed almost perfect skating this time too.
Snowboard cross, women:
1. Michela Moioli (Italy)
2. Julia Pereira de Souza Mabilo (France)
3. Eva Samkova (Czech Republic)
Parallel giant slalom, men:
1. Nevin Galmarini (Switzerland)
2. Sang-Ho Lee (South Korea)
3. Zhan Kosir (Slovenia).
Parallel giant slalom, women:
1. Esther Ledecka (Czech Republic)
2. Selina Jorg (Germany)
3. Ramona Hofmeister (Germany)
Interesting fact: 22-year-old Czech Esther Ledecka won two golds at the Pyeongchang Games, and did this in two different sports. She won her first gold in alpine skiing, winning the super-G.
Well, how did our fellow snowboarders perform?
Our country was represented in slopestyle by Vladislav Khadarin. The 19-year-old athlete scored 64.16 points and ultimately took 11th place in the qualifications, failing to qualify for the finals. It is worth noting that during his first attempt, Khadarin made a serious mistake while performing a complex element - he was unable to group in the air and fell. As a result, the rest of the route had to be completed without tricks. The second attempt was much better for the Russian. He successfully skated the stated program, but the points he scored were still not enough.
The results for women were much better. Sofia Fedorova took 8th place, her result was 65.73. After finishing the competition, Sophia noted that she was very pleased with her performance. “I didn’t make my first attempt because I didn’t make it to the landing - a strong wind blew,” Fedorova said. “In the second attempt I was very, very lucky, as the wind died down a little. I was able to complete my attempt and calculate the speed, which I am very pleased with, but it was difficult. I’m also happy with the points, but I could have completed my program better. In the first section I could have done everything cleaner.” This is the best result among all snowboard disciplines of these Games. Congratulations to our beauty! Unfortunately, Sofia Fedorova was unable to reach the finals of the big air competition. Based on the results of two attempts, she took 21st place, the result was 64.00 points.
Russian snowboarder Nikita Avtaneev failed to make it to the final part of the pipe competition. In his best of two attempts in qualifying, he achieved a very mediocre result of 63.25 points, finishing only twentieth.
Vladislav Khadarin and Anton Mamaev failed to reach the finals of the big air competition at the 2018 Olympics. Khadarin showed the 11th result in the second qualification, Mamaev - the 16th. Let us note that Anton believes that he lost his chance to reach the decisive stage due to the organizers’ decision to reduce the springboard. “I did practically nothing today,” admitted Mamaev. “I wanted to do another, more complex trick, but instead I had to show a simplified one, because the springboard turned out to be small and did not allow me to do what I wanted. Unfortunately, it was not possible make it to the finals, but with the existing tricks it was very difficult to count on reaching the decisive stage, you had to fly very far."
Russian snowboarder Nikolai Olyunin had an unfortunate fall in the semi-final race of snowboard cross and was able to leave the track after the accident only with the help of medical personnel. During the examination, it turned out that Olyunin had a broken leg. We wish Kolya a speedy recovery without consequences!
Nineteen-year-old snowboarder Christina Paul, who competed in the second semi-final, did not reach the finish line. As a result, she took only 12th place. “I’m very happy,” Powel said. – I liked the day, I liked the Olympic Games. I am happy for our foreign friends who won today. I was rooting for the Italian Mickey, who just won. She and I are very good friends.”
Another Russian woman, Maria Vasiltsova, finished her performance at the 1/4 final stage. On Friday (February 16), the Russian snowboarder heroically took to the start of the Olympic board cross competition, overcoming pain in her leg. The athlete injured her heel here, at the very first training session on the Olympic track, but decided to participate anyway.
And finally, our best result in snowboarding: Russian snowboarder Alena Zavarzina took fourth place in the parallel giant slalom.
So let's get started:
Slopestyle, men:
1. Redmond Gerard (USA)
2. Maxence Parrot (Canada)
3. Mark McMorris (Canada)
Interesting fact: Seventeen-year-old American Redmond Gerard won his first gold medal at the PyeongChang Olympics in snowboarding in the slopestyle discipline, scoring 87.16 points. He admitted that he still does not fully believe in his victory. “It's crazy, I can't believe it,” Gerard said. “I’m shaking all over, not knowing whether it’s from the cold or from excitement. I am filled with delight. I didn't even think about being the first. I told myself: if only I don’t fail and end up last... I’ll give the Olympic medal to my mother. Let him keep it.” By the way, Gerard became the third in the list of the youngest winners of the Winter Olympics among men. Before him, bobsledder Billy Fisk from the USA won gold at the age of sixteen in 1928 and Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen in 1992.
Interesting fact: Canadian snowboarder Maxence Parrot took silver. He later said that the helmet saved him twice in the finals. “... I hit my head twice on the track, both times very hard. But I’m fine, I’m healthy,” Parro said. “My helmet saved me, and this allowed me to successfully complete the third attempt, and I was able to complete the course with a score of 86 points. An Olympic medal was one of the medals that I was missing in my career, and today I have this award. So I'm super happy!”
Interesting fact: just eleven months ago, Canadian Mark McMorris was on the brink of life and death. In March 2017, while riding with friends north of Vancouver, he flew into a tree at full speed. The collision resulted in a broken jaw, a fractured left arm, a ruptured spleen, a fractured pelvis, ribs and damage to the left lung. Mark was hospitalized and underwent two surgeries. He spent a month in bed and only six months after the injury returned to. As a result, he received an honorary bronze, which is very good, considering the above-mentioned circumstances! Mark's final result is 85.20 points.
Slopestyle, women:
1. Jamie Anderson (USA) - 83.00
2. Laurie Bloin (Canada) - 76.33
3. Enni Rukajarvi (Finland) - 75.38
Interesting fact: American snowboarder Jamie Anderson again won gold at this Olympics. She easily repeated her old achievement of the fourteenth year, when she returned as a winner from our Sochi.
Halfpipe, men:
1. Shaun White (USA) - 97.75
2. Ayumu Hirano (Japan) - 95.25
3. Scotty James (Australia) – 92
Interesting fact: World legend, “red beast” Shaun White again became first in the halfpipe. Note that White is one of the most titled snowboarders in the history of this sport; he won gold at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics. In addition, he is a 13-time winner of the World Winter Extreme Games (X-Games) in the slopestyle and superpipe disciplines.
Halfpipe, women:
1. Chloe Kim (USA) - 98.25
2. Liu Jiayu (China) - 89.75
3. Ariel Gold (USA) - 85.75
Interesting fact: Seventeen-year-old American Chloe Kim won gold at the 2018 Olympics. Kim is also a four-time winner of the X-Games, as well as a two-time champion of the Winter Youth Olympic Games. The Olympics in Pyeongchang became the debut “adult” for Kim.
Big Air, men:
1. Sebastien Toutant (Canada) - 174.25
2. Kylie Mack (USA) - 168.75
3. Billy Morgan (Great Britain) - 168.00
Interesting fact: Canadian snowboarder Sebastien Toutant is a two-time winner of the World Winter Extreme Games (“X-Games”) in slopestyle.
Big Air, women:
1. Anna Gasser (Austria) - 185.00
2. Jamie Anderson (USA) - 177.25
3. Zoe Sadowski-Sinnott (New Zealand) - 157.50
Snowboard cross, men:
1. Pierre Voltier (France)
2. Jarryd Hughes (Australia)
3. Regino Hernandez (Spain)
Interesting fact: Frenchman Pierre Voltier also took the championship title at the Games in Sochi four years ago. “It’s nice to get another gold after Sochi,” says Woltje. – “Emotions are overwhelming. I was lucky in the semi-finals. There were always some hiccups at the end. This put me at risk from competitors.” However, Pierre performed almost perfect skating this time too.
Snowboard cross, women:
1. Michela Moioli (Italy)
2. Julia Pereira de Souza Mabilo (France)
3. Eva Samkova (Czech Republic)
Parallel giant slalom, men:
1. Nevin Galmarini (Switzerland)
2. Sang-Ho Lee (South Korea)
3. Zhan Kosir (Slovenia).
Parallel giant slalom, women:
1. Esther Ledecka (Czech Republic)
2. Selina Jorg (Germany)
3. Ramona Hofmeister (Germany)
Interesting fact: 22-year-old Czech Esther Ledecka won two golds at the Pyeongchang Games, and did this in two different sports. She won her first gold in alpine skiing, winning the super-G.
Well, how did our fellow snowboarders perform?
Our country was represented in slopestyle by Vladislav Khadarin. The 19-year-old athlete scored 64.16 points and ultimately took 11th place in the qualifications, failing to qualify for the finals. It is worth noting that during his first attempt, Khadarin made a serious mistake while performing a complex element - he was unable to group in the air and fell. As a result, the rest of the route had to be completed without tricks. The second attempt was much better for the Russian. He successfully skated the stated program, but the points he scored were still not enough.
The results for women were much better. Sofia Fedorova took 8th place, her result was 65.73. After finishing the competition, Sophia noted that she was very pleased with her performance. “I didn’t make my first attempt because I didn’t make it to the landing - a strong wind blew,” Fedorova said. “In the second attempt I was very, very lucky, as the wind died down a little. I was able to complete my attempt and calculate the speed, which I am very pleased with, but it was difficult. I’m also happy with the points, but I could have completed my program better. In the first section I could have done everything cleaner.” This is the best result among all snowboard disciplines of these Games. Congratulations to our beauty! Unfortunately, Sofia Fedorova was unable to reach the finals of the big air competition. Based on the results of two attempts, she took 21st place, the result was 64.00 points.
Russian snowboarder Nikita Avtaneev failed to make it to the final part of the pipe competition. In his best of two attempts in qualifying, he achieved a very mediocre result of 63.25 points, finishing only twentieth.
Vladislav Khadarin and Anton Mamaev failed to reach the finals of the big air competition at the 2018 Olympics. Khadarin showed the 11th result in the second qualification, Mamaev - the 16th. Let us note that Anton believes that he lost his chance to reach the decisive stage due to the organizers’ decision to reduce the springboard. “I did practically nothing today,” admitted Mamaev. “I wanted to do another, more complex trick, but instead I had to show a simplified one, because the springboard turned out to be small and did not allow me to do what I wanted. Unfortunately, it was not possible make it to the finals, but with the existing tricks it was very difficult to count on reaching the decisive stage, you had to fly very far."
Russian snowboarder Nikolai Olyunin had an unfortunate fall in the semi-final race of snowboard cross and was able to leave the track after the accident only with the help of medical personnel. During the examination, it turned out that Olyunin had a broken leg. We wish Kolya a speedy recovery without consequences!
Nineteen-year-old snowboarder Christina Paul, who competed in the second semi-final, did not reach the finish line. As a result, she took only 12th place. “I’m very happy,” Powel said. – I liked the day, I liked the Olympic Games. I am happy for our foreign friends who won today. I was rooting for the Italian Mickey, who just won. She and I are very good friends.”
Another Russian woman, Maria Vasiltsova, finished her performance at the 1/4 final stage. On Friday (February 16), the Russian snowboarder heroically took to the start of the Olympic board cross competition, overcoming pain in her leg. The athlete injured her heel here, at the very first training session on the Olympic track, but decided to participate anyway.
And finally, our best result in snowboarding: Russian snowboarder Alena Zavarzina took fourth place in the parallel giant slalom.
Big sport №11(77)
Snowboarding is one of the most medal-intensive sports in the program of the Winter Olympic Games: in Sochi 2014, 10 sets of awards will be awarded at once, five each for men and women. “Big Sport” represents all Olympic snowboard disciplines.
Slopestyle
Dates of the final competitions in Sochi 2014: men - February 8, women - February 9
The competition consists of performing a series of acrobatic jumps on springboards, pyramids, counter slopes, drops, railings and other obstacles located sequentially along the entire length of the route. The judges evaluate the participants' passage of the course, taking into account the chosen line and the use of figures.
Halfpipe
Year of Olympic debut: 1998
Dates of the final competitions in Sochi 2014: men - February 11, women - February 12
Number of participants per gender: 24
Competitions are held in a half-pipe made of dense snow or dug in the ground and covered with a layer of snow. Riders move in a pipe from one wall to another, performing tricks and jumping with each move. The overall impression of the performance is assessed based on three criteria: the variety of tricks, their complexity and quality of execution.
Bordercross
Year of debut at the Olympic Games: 2006
Dates of the final competitions in Sochi 2014: men - February 17, women - February 16
Number of participants per gender: 40
Competitions are held on a track with a height difference of 100–240 meters, a width of at least 30 meters and a slope of 15–18 degrees. The track should contain a variety of relief figures: shafts, rollers, springboards, spines and turns. After passing the qualifying timed races, the participants are divided into fours. The two fastest in each race advance to the next round, and so on until the final.
The only Russian Olympic medal was won in snowboarding in the parallel giant slalom. It was received by Ekaterina Ilyukhina, who in 2010 became second at the Games in Vancouver. In addition to her, the elite includes the 2011 World Cup winner, two-time winner of planetary championships, Ekaterina Tudegesheva and Alena Zavarzina. For men, the main hopes of the Russian team are connected with the naturalized American Victor Wilde. All of the above athletes will compete for awards in parallel slalom
Parallel giant slalom
Year of debut at the Olympic Games: 2002
Dates of the final competitions in Sochi 2014: men and women – February 19
Two rivals move parallel to each other along tracks that best match each other in terms of terrain, snow cover and other parameters. The optimal length of a track with 25 gates is 550 meters, the height difference is from 120 to 200 meters. The athlete who covers the distance faster than his opponent wins and advances to the next round.
Parallel slalom
Makes his Olympic debut
Dates of the final competitions in Sochi 2014: men and women – February 22
Number of participants per gender: 32
The rules correspond to parallel giant slalom. The recommended length of the route is 350 meters, and its steepness should be from 17 to 22 degrees.
The maximum quota for each participating country in snowboarding is 24 people, while the number of athletes of the same sex in a team cannot exceed 14. In one type of program, a country cannot be represented by more than four people
