Olympic Men’s Snowboard Big Air Final Sees Most Riders Ever Land 1800s As Sport Progresses Rapidly

When the dust—or snow spray—had settled on the men’s snowboard big air final Tuesday, seven riders had landed an 1800, an upper-limits snowboarding trick involving five full rotations.

China’s Su Yiming, Norway’s Mons Roisland, Canada’s Max Parrot, Japan’s Hiroaki Kunitake, the United States’ Chris Corning, Norway’s Marcus Kleveland and Japan’s Takeru Otsuka all landed the trick over the course of the three-run final, where riders’ two best runs counted (but had to be different tricks).

One rider, Corning, even landed the elusive quad cork 1800 (adding four off-axis flips), which few riders have landed in competition.

Yiming, Roisland and Parrot landed on the podium with gold, silver and bronze, respectively; Yiming and Parrot added to their medal collection after earning silver and gold, respectively, in the men’s slopestyle final last week.

Beijing 2022 slopestyle bronze medalist Mark McMorris attempted 1800s on his second and third runs in the big air final, but wasn’t able to land either cleanly.

The men’s slopestyle event made headlines with a judging controversy after judges failed to notice that Parrot missed a grab on his highest-scoring run, grabbing his knee instead of the front of his board. Given that Yiming and McMorris finished within three points of him, it likely would have shaken up the podium.

But, thankfully, the judges did not become a storyline in the men’s big air final.

It was a thrilling contest that saw big air—much like men’s and women’s halfpipe and slopestyle earlier in these Games—vault into its next era. Consider this: at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics, in big air’s debut, Canada’s Sebastien Toutant took gold with a backside 1620 that earned a 89.50.

Fast-forward to 2022, and a backside 1620 ended up being a “safety” trick for the riders who went on to threaten the podium—and yes, that sounds ridiculous. But when Corning brought out the backside quad 1800 melon on his first run—and just the third of the final to that point—it became clear this wasn’t going to be an ordinary snowboarding contest.

The lowest-scoring trick of Parrot’s two that counted was a frontside triple 1620 Weddle grab. At 76.25, it was actually the lowest-scoring trick of any of the three podium riders’ six scored runs. Parrot earned a 94.00 for his cab (switch frontside) triple 1800 Indy grab on Run 2.

The lower of Roisland’s two tricks that counted toward his score, at 82.50, was a backside 1620 melon grab on Run 3. His frontside 1800 Indy on Run 1 earned an 89.25.

Meanwhile, gold medalist Su was all 1800s, all the way. On his first run, he landed a massive frontside 1800 tailgrab for a score of 89.50. On his second, he stomped an even bigger backside triple 1800 Indy for his high score of 93.00.

The 17-year-old was already the first rider ever to land 1800s two ways in a FIS competition (a backside triple cork 1800 and a frontside 1800), which he did in December. He went ahead and did it at the Olympics to earn China’s first-ever Olympic snowboarding gold medal. In fact, Su was the first male snowboarder to land on the Olympic podium for China.

Su is just two months removed from his first major career title after he took gold at December’s Steamboat World Cup, becoming the first Chinese snowboarder to make a World Cup podium in either big air or slopestyle in the process in his third World Cup start.

Now he can add Olympic gold and silver medals to his resume. Su represents the next generation of men’s slopestyle and big air.

The mood after the Olympic big air final was jubilant, as it should be. It was the least controversial of the three men’s freestyle finals and showcased the sport’s unbelievable recent progression and global talent pool.

If there is one caution to come from the event, though, it’s that the hype around the 1800 should not overtake the fundamentals of what riders are judged on: amplitude, difficulty and landing.

Amplitude is, literally, able to be quantified, and landing is easy to spot, as well, thanks to the blue lines painted onto the landing ramp. Difficulty is the most subjective of the criteria.

The “holy grail” of snowboarding is being able to spin all four ways: frontside, backside, cab and switch backside. Switch backside is considered the most difficult because riders must take off blind on their non-dominant foot. The FIS judges’ handbook explicitly states “approaching the feature with your back to it (backside or switch backside) makes the maneuver more difficult.”

There were a few instances in the big air final of riders performing switch backside tricks—like McMorris’ switch backside triple 1620 stalefish on Run 1 or fellow Canadian Darcy Sharpe’s switch backside triple 1620 Indy on Run 2—that seemed underscored, especially given that some riders’ frontside triple 1620s scored higher than their switch backside counterparts.

Of course the type of grab, the amplitude and the landing all factor in, as well, but riders who are doing the most technical versions of their tricks shouldn’t be discounted when someone else adds 180 degrees of rotation.

Viewers will also notice tricks with more rotations and progression overall tend to be rewarded higher at the Olympics, while contests like X Games give more weight to style and direction of spin. Riders can tailor their run selection to the given contest, but the Olympics—whether snowboarding purists like it or not—set the tone for the next four years of progression.

In the end, Corning had the only quad 1800 of the competition—something that, going in to the final, seemed like it would perhaps be necessary to win gold.

Billy Morgan landed the first-ever quad 1800 in 2015. Kleveland landed the first backside quad 1800 in competition at X Games Aspen in 2017. Otsuka claimed the first frontside quad 1800 at X Games in 2021.

In the men’s slopestyle final at these Games, though, Su became the first to land a triple 1800 at the Winter Olympics. The Games caught up to everything that happened in the last four years—and then set a new standard for the next.

The bar has been raised in snowboard slopestyle and big air. And over the next four years, we’ll get to see Su become the new standard-bearer—eventually taking the baton from his childhood hero, McMorris, the most decorated slopestyle rider of all time.

What’s next? Well, in October 2021, Su landed a backside 1980 during training camp in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. Finland’s Rene Rinnekangas became the world’s first to land it in competition at X Games in January. No one landed it at these Games. That won’t be the case at Milano Cortina 2016.