Medals
| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 5 | 6 |
Snowboarding
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Parallel Giant Slalom
Halfpipe
Snowboard Cross
Slopestyle
Big Air
What's this sport all about:
The snowboard was invented on Christmas day in 1965 in Michigan.
The first snowboard was called a "snurfer" because it combined snow sports with surfing.
You couldn't snowboard at ski resorts until the '80s because it was considered dangerous and a fad.
There are three race events — Parallel Slalom, Giant Parallel Slalom and Snowboard Cross. In all races, the athletes race against each other, but in Snowboard Cross, there's the added fun of jumps, embankments and rollers.
In Halfpipe, there are six judges who score athletes based on overall performance according to height, rotations, techniques and degree of difficulty.
This is the first year that Big Air is being included in the Winter Olympics — it involves a lot of cool jumps and tricks.
Canada got its first medal in Nagano 1998 when snowboarding made its appearance (just giant slalom).
When to watch
of events:
of events:
Our Canadian Athletes
Things to watch for
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Alley-oop: When you're watching the halfpipe competition, you'll see this trick. When athletes spin 180 degrees or more in the uphill direction — against the direction they're travelling.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
Jib: When you see a snowboarder jumping, sliding or riding on objects like benches, rails or logs in slopestyle, those are jibs and the athlete is jibbing.
Pixabay
Goofy/Regular: Just like being right- or left-handed, snowboarders are either goofy footed (lead with their right foot) or regular footed (lead with their left foot).
