PyeongChang 2018 OWG preview: Slopestyle
Aug 31, 2018·Freeski Park & Pipe
After a show-stopping debut at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Russia four years ago, Olympic ski slopestyle competition is ready for it’s sophomore showing at a Games where the ladies’ and men’s medal competitions are two of the most hotly anticipated events set to be contested.
The slopestyle course at PyeongChang 2018 Freestyle Skiing venue Phoenix Park boasts six features, with three multifaceted rail/jib/jump/butter features at the top of the course leading into the lower section of three multifaceted, boundary-pushing jumps, with the whole package coming together to encourage creativity and individuality in each athletes' run.
Slopestyle training at Phoenix Park begins on Wednesday, February 14, with ladies qualifications and finals taking on Feb 17, and men’s qualifications and finals going down on Feb 18. Ladies’ finals are slated to begin at 13:00 local time on the 17th, while men’s finals should begin at 13:15 on the following day.
Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games slopestyle results
Ladies:
Gold - Dara Howell (CAN)
Silver - Devin Logan (USA)
Bronze - Kim Lamarre (CAN)
Men:
Gold - Joss Christensen (USA)
Silver - Gus Kenworthy (USA)
Bronze - Nicholas Goepper (USA)
With both the ladies’ and men’s slopestyle fields for PyeongChang 2018 boasting exceptionally deep international talent pools, the level of competition in the battle for Olympic hardware promises to be at an all time high.
Swiss squad, Sjaastad Christiansen, and Voisin heading into Phoenix Park hot
While all three of the ladies’ medalists from Sochi 2014 will be returning for another chance at glory in Korea, repeat medal performances are going to be exceedingly tough for the likes of Kim Lamarre (CAN), Devin Logan (USA), and reigning Olympic champion Dara Howell in a ladies’ slopestyle landscape that has progressed by leaps and bounds since the Sochi competition.
With several of the top ladies now including double corked tricks in their runs, the return of some favourites who have battled through injuries in previous years, and a crop of youngsters who seem to be progressing with every run, the ladies’ competition should to be wide-open come time for competition at the Games.
The Swiss freeski team will feature two of the most progressive athletes in PyeongChang 2018 slopestyle competition, with Sarah Hoefflin and Mathlide Gremaud both holding a double-corked rotation in their arsenal and both stomping those tricks in recent high-level competition. Factor in the pair’s results in those recent competitions - Hoefflin the 2018 X Games big air champion and 2016/17 slopestyle World Cup crystal globe winner, and Gremaud the 2017 X Games Norway big air champion and slopestyle runner-up, and you’ve got a heavy one-two punch.
Then there’s the Norwegians, with Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen and Johanne Killi perhaps an even more formidable duo than Swiss stars mentioned above, with the two currently sitting second and third on the slopestyle World Cup rankings, respectively. Sjaastad Christiansen in particular should be on a mission at Phoenix Park, as she famously had to pull out of the Sochi 2014 competition at the last minute due to a knee injury. The 2015/16 slopestyle crystal globe winner, winner of the last World Cup before the Olympic break in Mammoth Mountain and, perhaps most importantly, the winner of the Olympic test event competition two seasons ago in Korea, the 22-year-old is holding some strong cards heading into her first real shot at the Games.
And then there’s the US squad tagging along with the veteran Logan, with Maggie Voisin setting herself up as the strongest podium threat from her nation. Like Sjaastad Christiansen, Voisin was forced to pull out of the Sochi contest due to injury four years ago. Now, coming into PyeongChang 2018 fresh off of a slopestyle win at the 2018 X Games, she appears to be peaking at just the right time to make amends for that lost opportunity.
Harlaut, Braaten, Woodsy looking to block repeat US sweep
There will be no chance for a repeat champion in the men’s competition, as Sochi 2014 gold medalist Joss Christensen was unable to make the US squad after suffering an ACL tear in May that kept him out of competition through most of the Olympic qualification period.
However, that’s not to say the US men don't have a chance at a repeat of their 2014 podium sweep, with Sochi medalists Gus Kenworthy and Nick Goepper returning for another Olympic go-around where they will be joined by Sierra Nevada 2017 world champion and 2016/17 slopestyle crystal globe winner Mcrae Williams and 19-year-old all-around ripper Alex Hall.
That being said, few, if any, are banking on a repeat of the 2014 sweep in 2018, as a look down the Olympic slopestyle startlist reveals a talent pool as long and as deep as any in contest history.
Arguably tops on the list is Sweden’s Henrik Harlaut, one of the most universally loved athletes in freeski history and one of the sport’s most remarkable talents. Last season’s big air World Cup crystal globe winner, Harlaut comes into PyeongChang 2018 fresh off an X Games slopestyle victory in which his utterly unique blend of technical prowess and silky-smooth style put him in a class of his own.
There’s more than a few skiers who will have something to say about that though, including the likes of current World Cup leader and 2015/16 slopestyle crystal globe winner Andri Ragettli (SUI), 2012/13 crystal globe winner and two-time world championships medallist James Woods (GBR), two-time X Games gold medalist and current World Cup number two Oystein Braaten (NOR), and/or Teal Harle (CAN), men's winner of the Mammoth World Cup in January.
While it seems a lifetime ago now, the Sochi 2014 competition came just weeks after the slopestyle men started regularly including triple corked jumps in their runs, with several of the competitors learning their own variations on the top-level trick in training on the Sochi course.
Though it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll be seeing any quad corks at the PyeongChang competition, we have gotten to a point where athletes like Fabian Boesch (SUI) are stomping triple corked 1980s (that’s three flips and 5.5 full rotations, if you're counting along at home) in big air competition, with slopestyle tricks not lagging far behind. Combine jumps of this magnitude with the dizzying rail combinations capable of the top athletes (switch left 270 on, backside 360 swap, anyone?) and for the casual observer we might recommend a phrasebook and a calculator when it comes time for men’s finals at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
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