Well, my plan to watch the Olympics from my couch in Cleveland has already been thrown out the window. Crews are in Ohio and I spent a majority of the Big Air Finals freezing my hands off shooting photos at a spot while checking in with the live feed on my phone in the car between tries. And while it was a good excuse for not shoveling, I definitely missed a few runs that I will have to rewatch back on the couch. Shoutout to my actual brother, who lives a mile down from the spot and had the contest running on his big screen TV. As soon as we had a land in the bag, I rushed to his house and caught the last attempts for the finalists. And shoutout to Blatt for sending over his photos today!

Even if I missed the whole thing, highlights were pretty easy to see on social the moment the event ended. A little drama at the end with Team USA’s Ollie Martin putting up a solid showing with a broken arm and then getting bumped off the podium by China’s Su Yiming in the last possible drop that could have changed the podium. Su Yiming put his hands down a bit on the landing, which plenty of people are calling out but if you watched X Games, the same thing happened. It happens in every contest. If it was just from the force of landing or if he needed his hands to keep from falling can be argued until the cows come home, but it is a judged event and when you drop you leave it up to the officials. This one probably stings a bit more for the U.S. rookie being on the Olympic stage, but he probably knows it better than most that it’s a pretty common occurrence.

Lyon Farrell SHOWED OUT for New Zealand, landing his 1800 when he had to on his second run and was backed up by a solid showing from the whole New Zealand team. Lyon gave me his truck for a whole week one time in Maui and I was hoping the snowboard gods would look down on his never-ending nice gestures with some hardware. The top qualifier and heavy favorite out of Japan, Hiroto Ogiwara, sadly couldn’t put it down in the finals after dominating the discipline over the past two years. But as a consolation, remember that Hiroto has a few NBD’s and two X Games golds to hang his hat on… not too shabby. He will be back. Canada’s Frank Jobin won the hearts of snowboarders around the world with a switch backside double rodeo 1620, which was a breath of fresh air amongst the “pizza toss 1800s”, to borrow words from Todd Richards’ live call. And Jobin did it after separating his shoulder in practice right before the contest started! In the end, Japan’s Kira Kimura and Ryoma Kimata took gold and silver with China’s Su Yiming, the defending Olympic champ, riding away with bronze. A solid showing from the two Japanese riders that haven’t got as much mainstream shine as some of their teammates. Those medals have to feel pretty good back at the house.

And did you think we weren’t going to mention it? We aren’t NBC censoring boos about J.D. Vance. Todd Richards was ‘caught’ with his mic still on after the contest ended, stating, “That was boring. That was so boring. The qualifier was way more exciting.” Immediately viral online. More viral than the podium. Two thoughts on that. One, he is right. And two, he obviously wasn’t taking a shot at any of the riders (which he cleared up with a post to social of his own talking about the mishap). Todd is one of snowboarding’s loudest advocates and he knows what the riders have to go through to perform on that level. Under his explanation, the caption read, “This is nothing I wouldn’t say to a reporter or in public. It was my opinion based on what I saw in the qualifier vs the final medal round. Not one word I said had anything to do with a rider in this event. I feel like I shouldn’t have to say that, but I am. They all rule.” While it is stressful to watch the riders risk their lives and I hold my breath every time they leave the lip, IT IS PRETTY BORING to see so many tricks that look the same. Men’s Big Air is becoming a gauntlet of spins and a lot of the style is lost in that. I say lost because anyone crying about how these riders look like robots should watch ANY of them hit a backside 180, 540, or whatever trick of your choice. These are some of the most talented riders in the world, and they shouldn’t be chastised for what the progression and judging in the sport have come to. Sure, they could band together and try to force some rule changes, but what group of snowboarders do you know that are that organized? All down for Big Air format to change, but until it happens, it ain’t the current riders’ fault.

All in all, yeah, it was a bit boring, but it also had some drama. The riders went psycho on a jump that is rumored not to be their favorite. Congrats to the podium, hopefully it changes their life for the better! I believe it was Japan and China’s first medals of the Winter Games so that is dope for them. Now it is time for the women, and we can’t wait.