"The origins of snowboarding go back to Christmas Day 1965 when an engineer named Sherman Poppen strapped two skis together to give his daughters something to do. He called it a snurfer and started selling them the next year. Jake Burton came along, refined the toy and helped turn snowboarding into a mass market sport. Along the way superstars like Shaun White and Chloe Kim redefined what could be done in the air and the sport is always reinventing itself in terms of tricks."
"How it works There are three snowboarding events in what's called the park (halfpipe, slopestyle and big air) and two more that involve racing (snowboardcross and parallel giant slalom). The park contests are the core of the sport. They are judged events that include qualifying and finals where riders are scored on the complexity of the tricks and how high they fly. Snowboardcross is a rugged form of four-wide racing down a winding course and PGS is the closest this sport has to Alpine skiing."
"Who to watch Kim goes for an unprecedented third straight title in the halfpipe. On the men's side, the best rider standing in the way of Japanese star Ayumu Hirano's repeat bid on the pipe is Australian Scotty James. Esther Ledecka of the Czech Republic is the GOAT and two-time defending champion in parallel giant slalom. American Red Gerard, the 2018 slopestyle champion, is in good form and looking for a return to the podium after finishing fourth in China."
Snowboarding began in 1965 when Sherman Poppen strapped two skis together to entertain his daughters, creating the snurfer, which later evolved into a mass-market sport through Jake Burton's refinements. Modern snowboarding features judged park events—halfpipe, slopestyle and big air—alongside racing formats such as snowboardcross and parallel giant slalom. Park events include qualifying and finals with scoring based on trick complexity and amplitude, while snowboardcross involves four-wide racing on a winding course and PGS resembles Alpine skiing. Prominent competitors include Chloe Kim, Ayumu Hirano, Scotty James, Esther Ledecka and Red Gerard.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]