Well, it has been four years and we are officially back at the Olympics. We have renowned photographer Aaron Blatt on the ground in Italy to bring us non-stop photo coverage of all the action. Big Air kicks it off, which has actually been the final snowboarding event of the Olympics since it was added in 2018. A smaller jump than what was featured last week at X Games for Big Air is what is being reported in Italy (about 65 ft.), split down the middle with the run-in being built on scaffolding and a full snow landing. The landing alone is probably taller than half the resorts in the Midwest. The tower literally towers over the town of Livigno, originally settled in the Middle Ages and inaccessible from the outside world during the winter until the 1950s, according to Google. It also states the town name probably comes from the German word for avalanche, so do with that what you will. The rules for qualifiers is simple. Each rider gets three drops. The top two scores go towards the overall, and you have two spin two different ways for your scores to count (frontside, backside, or switch in either direction). The top twelve advance to finals on Saturday out of a field of thirty.
Will every recap be this wordy? Probably not, but the Opening Ceremonies haven’t even happened yet so we had some time. We are writing this as it happens, so follow along or just go to the end for the results.
RUN 1:
Cleveland, Ohio was mentioned immediately in the broadcast (Go Browns!) while they were profiling Red Gerard (which is also the city where I am currently sitting on my couch while writing this) and sadly, Todd Richards also announced that Mark McMorris had to back out of the contest due to a fall in practice just 24 hours before the start time. Team USA’s Jake Canter kicked off snowboarding in the Olympics with the first official drop in the men’s qualies, putting down a perfect 1980 (five and a half spins), and the rest were off to the races… or more realistically off to the landing. First runs where a mix of 16s,18s, and 19s. They were spinning so fast that all those board graphics launched right before the Olympics by the major brands couldn’t even really be seen in real time, just in slo-mo replays. Lucky for the sponsors, there was plenty of time down in the scoring corral for some base shots. Eli Bouchard was the first one to toss in a different axis spin that broke up the standard look, and then Rene Rinnekangas put up a nollie backside 1620, repeat NOLLIE BACKSIDE 1620, but put his hands down on the landing for a 62.75. Most of the drop sheet was looking pretty stylish in the slo-mo. Jake Canter’s 89.00 was the highest score out of the Americans’ first run, with Red Gerard’s switch backside 1620 earning him a 70.75. Italy’s Ian Matteoli came out swinging in run one with the hometown crowd behind him, landing a switch backside 1980 for a 93.75. Honestly, we had to go back and count the spins ourselves because even the announcers aren’t calling out every rotation in real time. Average takeoff speed for the riders was hovering around 29mph (we aren’t going to do kilometers even though this is an international stage).
RUN 2:
On the second drop, Canter put up a 1620 for 71.25 backed up by Kira Kimura keeping himself in the mix with a 1800 scoring just under 80.00. Red put down a backside 1800 for 83.50 to improve on his first score. Hiroto Ogiwara backed up his 90.50 with an 88.00 for a combo that was all but certain to put him through to finals even without a third drop. And although the brands can’t talk about it, Salomon, Burton, Nidecker, Capita, Nitro, Arbor, Bataleon, Sims, K2, and Forum were all under the feet of riders for the first day of competition. Reigning gold medalist Yiming Su had to land on his second run after falling on his first to have a chance at advancing to finals and he put up a massive 1800 for an 87.75 (hanging in the air for 2.7 seconds and traveling over 100 ft. for a deep landing). Getting the nod to ride in Big Air after McMorris announced his withdrawal due to the crash, Australia’s Valentino Guseli, who has become known for his pipe airs the past few seasons, backed up his 1620 with another one in a different direction that prompted Todd Richards to say, “pretty good for a pipe rider!” Lyon Farrell added to the drama of the day putting down a 88.50 on the final drop to keep his medal hope alive in Big Air. At the end of the second runs, Red and Jake were the only two Americans in the top 12 (10 and 8) to advance to finals, with a mix of international flags waving above and below them. Two-time X Games gold medalist Hiroto Ogiwara from Japan sat in the top spot with a combined score of 178.50.
RUN 3:
The third and final runs of qualies are by far the most exciting. You obviously have the drama of seeing how it all shakes out, but even for those that are already mathematically eliminated, this is where you get to see some style and hopefully a nice method or two. USA’s Jake Canter fell to kick off the final attempts, which forced him to sit and wait to see if he would survive the onslaught of the rest of the field. Kira Kimura put down a massive 1980 to punch his ticket to finals. Red Gerard improved on his score on run three but only enough to hold his spot near the bubble in 11th place with 20+ riders to go. After Taiga Hasegawa put down an 87.25 and moved into final contention, Japan took control of the top three, which feels about right for a representation of this discipline over the past few winters. Ollie Martin then followed with an 85.25 (landing a clean 1800) to move into the top twelve and knock teammate Red Gerard out of finals day. Yiming Su put down a switch backside 1980 to keep his Olympic dream alive, easily jumping into the top twelve for a chance to defend his gold medal (and knocking Team USA’s Jake Canter out of contention for finals along the way). Sean Fitzsimons needed an 86.00 to make the top twelve on his last drop, and although he got to his feet he could not improve on his score to advance. Valentino Guseli, with less than a 24 hour noitce that he would be competing in Big Air put down a massive switch backside 1980 and screamed, “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!” as his 91.50 score came in to just squeak him into finals on Saturday. Oh, and Lyon Farrell also landed the final run of the contest with an 81.50, which combined with his 88.50 from run two bumped Marcus Kleveland out of the top 12 and secured all of New Zealand’s team a spot to advance.
RESULTS:
-NOT A SINGLE METHOD. But we get it. These guys are trying to show the world their best stuff and although we would argue a method looks pretty good at the Olympics, they don’t have to prove how stylish they are to anyone when they are competing for themselves and their countries. But we were definitely hoping to see one from a rider who already knew they weren’t going to advance. Or we can just hope that the few runs that ran while the broadcast was on a commercial were methods and scored with a DNI (Did Not Improve) on the live tracker. We can live with that.
-BURTON GOT A LOT OF AIRTIME WITH A TON OF RIDERS RUNNING THEIR NEW “FROM BURTON TO THE WORLD” LINE. Pretty smart business decision.
-SWITCH BACKSIDE/BACKSIDE RODEOS LOOK SO NICE IN A WORLD OF FLAT SPINS. THANK YOU FRANK JOBIN AND MONS ROISLAND. That is all.
– VALENTINO GUSELI DITCHES THE PIPE FOR BIG AIR AND MAKES IT INTO FINALS. Not many pipe riders are going toe-to-toe with the big air specialists, and making finals as an alternate with less than 24 hours notice of competing is pretty damn impressive. This dude can do it all.
– LYON FARELL FINDS SUCCESS FOR NEW ZEALAND. All riders who dropped repping the Japan and New Zealand flags advanced to finals (as well as Team Italy, but they only had one rider representing in the contest with Ian Matteoli qualifying in the number two spot).
-JAPAN ON TOP. Japan took first, third, fifth, and tenth in qualifiers which keeps the potential for a Japanese sweep in the finals alive.
-YIMING SU ADVANCES TO DEFEND HIS GOLD.
-TEAM USA HAS ONE HOPE, AND HE IS A 17-YEAR-OLD ROOKIE NAMED OLIVER MARTIN. Get used to seeing him on the contest circuit. With a handful of podiums and strong finishes the past two seasons, Martin is quickly making a name for himself in the freestyle world. Knocking out teammate Red Gerard on his way to advancing, he is the sole chance for the USA to walk away with a medal in Big Air.
-SHOUT OUT SEAN FITZSIMONS WITH THE CRAB GRAB GLOVES. We will be dropping the updated Crab Grab directory as well as a spin directory soon so you can keep up with all the tricks and spins at the Olympics.
FULL RESULTS BELOW:
