Winter Sports 101: Snowboarding

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Snowboarding is a sport in which competitors use a board attached to their feet to speed down a slope. Snowboarding was first developed in the United States in the 1960s. It became an official event at the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games.

Snowboarding at Winter Olympics has a total of 10 individual events, including Parallel Giant Slalom, Halfpipe, Snowboard Cross, Slopestyle, and Big Air, the last of which was newly added for PyeongChang 2018.

In the Parallel Giant Slalom competition, two athletes depart simultaneously and must race through gates down courses installed in parallel. The athlete who comes down faster wins.

China’s Liu Jiayu won silver in the women's snowboard halfpipe final. /VCG Photo

Snowboard Halfpipe requires athletes to perform jumps, rotations, and twists in the air as they glide criss-crossing a semi-circular ramp (shaped like a pipe cut in half lengthwise). China’s Liu Jiayu won the silver medal in the women's snowboard halfpipe final. It was China’s first medal in this year’s games, and also the first ever medal for a Chinese snowboarder in the Winter Olympics.

In Snowboard Cross, teams of four to six athletes race down a course featuring various structures such as banks, rollers, spines, and jumps. The ranking is decided by the order in which they cross the finishing line.

Slopestyle is held on a course organized with various objects like rails, tables, boxes, walls, and jump pads. The athletes can select the objects they want to perform with.

Meanwhile, the new Olympic event Big Air sees competitors perform tricks after launching off very large jumps.