The stacked field included 2018 gold medalist Red Gerard and Canada’s Mark McMorris, who had won bronze three times in a row.
LIVIGNO, Province of Sondrio — The men’s snowboarding slopestyle final took place Wednesday, giving Canadian Mark McMorris a chance to finally win an Olympic gold medal, after winning bronze in his last three appearances.
The 12-man field was stacked with notable competitors, including 2018 champion Red Gerard, 2022 silver medalist Su Yiming, eight-time X Games champion Marcus Kleveland and 17-year-old American Oliver “Ollie” Martin.
Yiming Su, a 22-year-old Chinese snowboarder, claimed gold with a leading performance across all three runs. His highest score was an 82.41 on his first run down the hill.
Taiga Hasegawa of Japan earned silver right on Su’s heels, with an 82.13 on his first run.
Team USA’s Jake Canter managed to take bronze after a massive spin trick on his third and final run. He rounded out the pack with a 79.36.
How did Team USA do?
Red Gerard’s first run really took off on the jumps, where he stuck each landing, including a 1620-degree rotation, meaning he spun four and a half times in the air. The confident start earned him a solid score of 76.60
His final run, which was his last chance to reach the podium, ended with a missed landing on his second jump. Gerard was just inches off his mark and ended with his first run’s score being his best.
Jake Canter followed immediately after Gerard. Canter let out a cheer upon making it down the hill after his first run, full of energy. That run earned him a 70.58 score he would keep through the second run.
Canter’s last run was nearly perfect, full of spins and flips through the air. After landing his final jump, Canter yelled, raising his arms in triumph. His final jump’s 1980 rotation bumped him to third with a 79.36.
Oliver Martin’s first run was acrobatic, flipping off the cannon and catching big air off each of his three jumps. But the last of those jumps was the 17-year-old’s undoing, causing a slip just as he reached the bottom of the slope that saw him sliding down the last bit of the hill for a 48.23 score.
His second run fared better, with Martin appearing determined to land all of his tricks. The dedication got him a much improved 73.96, keeping him in the middle of the pack
Martin finished strong, with a double backflip off the cannon and strong landings for all of his jumps. But a 75.36 score wasn’t enough to put him on the podium. He finished in ninth place.
Dramatic qualifying rounds
McMorris got knocked out after a nasty fall in big air qualifying on Feb. 4. He was cleared to compete this week and was planning to hit the starting gate Monday. But with a big storm approaching, organizers pushed the slopestyle qualifier up by a day, scrambling plans and costing everyone a day of training.
He got the drama over with early, stomping landings on a 1620-degree spin, a triple cork and another 1440-degree spin, which placed him in the top three.
For Gerard, it was a different story in qualifications.
He came off a rail early on his first run and nearly put his hand down after landing a jump on the second. Still, both trips involved a series of difficult tricks that were otherwise clean, which left the American shaking his head when his score popped up on the second run. It was a 70 that was ultimately good for 11th and forced him to sweat out the qualifier from wire to wire.
The women’s final was scheduled for Tuesday but postponed because of a storm. It was unclear whether the men’s final would happen on Wednesday as scheduled. Slopestyle is the snowboarding event most susceptible to weather. It’s hard to get speed or judge jumps when snow and wind are blowing. Snowboarders knew they might have to change plans with little notice.
In slopestyle, riders perform tricks and jumps on a sloping course over ramps, rails and obstacles. The event debuted at the Sochi Olympics in 2024.
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