The US has been the best nation in snowboarding at the Olympics, but with four new events this year the program has changed again. The US holds the record with seven snowboarding medals in Turin. With 20 competitors competing in a combined 22 events, can the US top that in Sochi?
Snowboarding’s Olympic History
Snowboarding is one of the newer sports in the Olympics having made its debut in 1998. Snowboarding began with just four events: halfpipe and giant slalom for both men and women. The events have changed some since then and with four new events this year there are now ten, five each for men and women. Only the halfpipe competitions remain from the original program in 1998.
The US has dominated in snowboarding winning 22 of the 63 available medals. The closest competitor is Switzerland who has won nine medals and five golds (compared to seven for the US). In all 14 nations have medaled in snowboarding with seven of them winning golds.
How the Snowboarding Competitions Work
The first events held in Sochi will be in the slopestyle category. It will be the debut of this even in the Olympics. Athletes will snowboard down a slope that involves jumps, rails, and other obstacles that allow them to perform tricks and jumps. They are then judged on these tricks and jumps and given a score. The competitions involve a qualifying round, a semifinal round, and then a final round. In each round the competitors get two runs and the best scoring athletes move into the next round.
The halfpipe competition is conducted similarly, though the runs are in a halfpipe instead of down a mountain slope. In Vancouver they took the top nine scorers from two qualifying heats to advance to the semifinals. They gave the top three from each heat byes into the final round while the other 12 snowboarders competed in the semifinals for six more spots in the final round.
Snowboard cross is a race event over a course that includes obstacles such as jumps and moguls. On the women’s side qualifying runs will determine the top 16 competitors and they’ll be divided into groups of four for quarterfinal runs where the top two finishers in each group move on. After the same is down with two groups of four semifinalists we’ll have the field for the final group of four for the medal race. The men’s side is conducted the same way except their qualifying gets them down to 32 and they have one more round of group of four racing before the quarterfinals.
Parallel giant slalom is another racing event, but this time instead of competing in groups of four the athletes will compete head-to-head with the winner moving on. The qualifying runs for this event setup a bracket featuring the top 16 athletes. The quicker athlete down the course in the matchups after that move on. Red and blue flags dictate which side an athlete must go causing the back and forth turning down the slope.
Parallel slalom is conducted similarly to the parallel giant slalom event. The difference is the flags are closer together and the course a lot shorter. This requires the athletes to make quicker cuts back and forth than in giant slalom where they can go faster down the course overall.
US Team
The US team is 12 men and 11 women. Eight of the athletes were part of the team in Vancouver while five were also on the team in Turin and one was even part of the team in Salt Lake City.
Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.
Men:
Nick Baumgartner* – Snowboard cross
Greg Bretz* – Halfpipe
Danny Davis – Halfpipe
Alex Deibold – Snowboard cross
Taylor Gold – Halfpipe
Chas Guldemond – Slopestyle
Nate Holland** – Snowboard cross
Trevor Jacob – Snowboard cross
Sage Kotsenburg – Slopestyle
Justin Reiter – Parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom
Ryan Stassel – Slopestyle
Shaun White** – Halfpipe and slopestyle
Women:
Jamie Anderson – Slopestyle
Kelly Clark*** – Halfpipe
Kaitlyn Farrington – Halfpipe
Arielle Gold – Halfpipe
Faye Gulini* – Snowboard cross
Jackie Hernandez – Snowboard cross
Lindsey Jacobellis** – Snowboard cross
Jessika Jensen – Slopestyle
Karly Shorr – Slopestyle
Hannah Teter** – Halfpipe
Ty Walker – Slopestyle
* – Was on team in Vancouver
** – Was on team in Vancouver & Turin
*** – Was on team in Vancouver, Turin & Salt Lake City
A Sochi 2014 Snowboarding list on twitter including all of these athletes
US Team’s Olympic History
Nick Baumgartner is back for his 2nd straight Olympics in the men’s snowboard cross event. In Vancouver Baumgartner finished 13th in qualifying, 2nd best of all Americans, but was eliminated when he came in last in his 1/8 final.
In Vancouver Greg Bretz competed in the men’s halfpipe competition. He qualified in 4th from his heat into the semifinals and reached the finals after finishing 2nd in the semifinals. Unfortunately he couldn’t put a solid run together in the final and finished 12th.
Nate Holland competed for the US in snowboard cross in Vancouver. Holland came in 15th in the qualification round but finished 1st in his group in the 1/8 finals, 2nd in the quarterfinals, and 1st in the semifinals to reach the final round. Sadly he came in last in the final, the only one of the final four not to medal. It was an improvement though on his Turin performance. In Turin he was better in qualifying (7th) but got knocked out when he finished 4th in his quarterfinal group. He went on to be ranked 14th in the final standings.
Shaun White was one of the show stealers in Vancouver. White put up the top qualifying score to advance straight to the finals. In the finals his first run was better than what anyone else could do through two runs, leaving him at the top of the halfpipe with a gold medal guaranteed. This allowed him to really go for it on his 2nd run… and the result was a spectacular 48.4 score. In 2006 White competed in the same halfpipe competition in Turin. He was 7th after his first run (top 6 automatically moved you to the final) but he put up a 45.3 on his 2nd run to post the top score of any qualifying run and reach the final. In the final he was by far the best and won the gold.
In Vancouver Kelly Clark was the top US athlete in qualifying in the halfpipe competition. Her score of 45.4 was good enough to get her straight to the final. Unfortunately she couldn’t match that score in the final and her top score of 42.2 was only enough for a bronze. Clark’s bronze though was an improvement on Turin. After being the best athlete on her first qualifying run her two runs in the final left her in 4th with a 41.1, knowing her qualifying run would have gotten her a silver if she’d done it during the finals. Clark does have a gold medal in her history though, won on American soil when she had the best qualifying run and best final run (47.9) in Salt Lake City.
Faye Gulini is back for her 2nd straight Olympics in the snowboard cross event. In Vancouver Gulini was 12th in qualifying but finished 3rd in her quarterfinal to end her Olympics.
Lindsey Jacobellis was the most successful US woman in snowboard cross in Vancouver. Jacobellis qualified in 2nd place and won her quarterfinal, but her semifinal run found her in 4th in her group and despite winning the consolation final she placed just 5th. Competing in the same event in Turin she was 3rd in qualifying and after advancing through the quarterfinals and semifinals she was 2nd in the final to win a silver medal.
Hannah Teter just out did her teammate Kelly Clark in the halfpipe in Vancouver. After finishing 4th in the qualifying runs she moved straight to the final where her score of 42.4 just edged out Clark to get a silver medal. The silver though was a step down from Turin where she raised her score significantly from 39.9 in qualifying to 46.4 on her 2nd run in the final, taking home a gold medal with the best run of the event.
Schedule
All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Thursday, February 6th
1 AM – Men’s Slopestyle Qualification
5 AM – Women’s Slopestyle Qualification
Saturday, February 8th
12:30 AM – Men’s Slopestyle Semifinals
*3:45 PM – Men’s Slopestyle Finals
Sunday, February 9th
1:30 AM – Women’s Slopestyle Semifinals
*4:15 AM – Women’s Slopestyle Finals
Tuesday, February 11th
5 AM – Men’s Halfpipe Qualification
10 AM – Men’s Halfpipe Semifinals
*12:30 PM – Men’s Halfpipe Finals
Wednesday, February 12th
5 AM – Women’s Halfpipe Qualification
10 AM – Women’s Halfpipe Semifinals
*12:30 PM – Women’s Halfpipe Finals
Sunday, February 16th
2 AM – Women’s Snowboard Cross Seeding
4:15 AM – Women’s Snowboard Cross Quarterfinals
4:31 AM – Women’s Snowboard Cross Semifinals
*4:45 AM – Women’s Snowboard Cross Finals
Monday, February 17th
2 AM – Men’s Snowboard Cross Seeding
4:30 AM – Men’s Snowboard Cross 1/8 Finals
5:01 AM – Men’s Snowboard Cross Quarterfinals
5:13 AM – Men’s Snowboard Cross Semifinals
*5:17 AM – Men’s Snowboard Cross Finals
Wednesday, February 19th
12:15 AM – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom Qualification
4 AM – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom 1/8 Finals
4:24 AM – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom Quarterfinals
4:37 AM – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom Semifinals
*4:48 AM – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom Finals
Saturday, February 22nd
12:15 AM – Men’s Parallel Slalom Qualification
4:15 AM – Men’s Parallel Slalom 1/8 Finals
4:31 AM – Men’s Parallel Slalom Quarterfinals
4:50 AM – Men’s Parallel Slalom Semifinals
*5:03 AM – Men’s Parallel Slalom Finals
US Team’s Recent World Championship History
The FIS Snowboarding World Championship is held every couple of years with the most recent in January 2013 in Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury, Quebec. I’m sure you’re all familiar with that locale. Not all of the top competitors competed, at least in part because the Winter X Games ran during some of the same time. Why anyone would allow that to happen is beyond me…
In the men’s halfpipe competition the only US Olympian to compete was Taylor Gold. Gold finished in 20th place in the qualifying round just missing out on a chance to move into the semifinals.
The snowboard cross event did feature US Olympian Nick Baumgartner. Baumgartner had the fifth best qualifying round run and won his 1/8 final to reach the quarterfinals. He placed second in his quarterfinal to reach the semifinals but his run ended there as he finished last in his semifinal group. He did win the small (consolation) final to finish seventh overall.
In the slopestyle competition three US Olympians, Ryan Stassel, Sage Kostenburg, and Chas Guldemond all made it through the qualifying round into the final. In the final Kostenburg never landed a clean run and finished 20th, Guldemond finished 11th, and Ryan Stassel came in seventh.
In the parallel giant slalom event Justin Reiter had a solid qualifying run to place himself 10th for the elimination bracket. He was however knocked out by the seven seen in the round of 16.
Reiter was also competing in the parallel slalom event where his qualifying run was even a little better placing him seventh. Reiter knocked off the ten seed and then beat the #15 seed and the three seed to reach the final. In the final Reiter finished 0.6 seconds too late and ended up with the silver medal.
On the women’s side in the snowboard cross competition the only US Olympian was Faye Gulini. Gulini placed 15th in her qualifying run to reach the quarterfinals but finished 4th in her group to end her stay.
There were two US Olympians in the halfpipe competition, Arielle Gold and Kaitlyn Farrington. Both qualified for the final in their qualifying run though neither could match their qualifying scores in the final. For Farrington that meant finishing in 4th but Gold was still able to post the top score in the final and take home the world championship.
The slopestyle competition featured two of the American Olympians, Ty Walker and Jessika Jenson. Jenson finished the qualifying round in 9th place, which unfortunately in this competition doesn’t advance you at all. Walker however finished 4th to move into the six woman final. In the final Walker couldn’t land a clean run and finished 5th.
US Olympic History
The US has dominated the men’s halfpipe competition in the four Olympics where it has been contested. Three straight gold medal winners have come from the US and the US has had multiple medalists the last three times including a sweep of the medal stand in Salt Lake City.
The men’s parallel giant slalom competition hasn’t been so kind. The US has won just won medal, a bronze in 2002, in this competition. In Vancouver there were two men in the round of 16, seeded 7th and 16th, for the US. The 16th seed advanced on a disqualification of his opponent and finished 7th overall while the 7th seed was eliminated in the round of 16.
Men’s snowboard cross has produced back-to-back gold medals from the US, but Seth Wescott is not back to defend those so the US will have to find a new champion if they want to win three straight.
On the women’s side the US has been the best country in halfpipe, though not as dominant as the men. Six of the 12 medals have gone to the US including two of the four golds. The US has won multiple medals in consecutive Olympics, but they haven’t won the gold since 2006.
In the two Olympics where women’s snowboard cross has been contested the US has only a single silver medal so far. Last year Lindsey Jacobellis came in 4th in her semifinal and ended up 5th overall.
The new Olympic events of slopestyle and parallel slalom are in the first Olympics, so no history to speak of there.
