Big air brings opportunity, bigger tricks for women

ASPEN, Colo. — Hailey Langland hadn’t landed a double cork before, but an hour before the X Games big air competition the 16-year-old snowboarder decided to try one.

Maxence Parrot had only landed a quadruple underflip at a camp two years ago before attempting it in the men’s big air event.

Both used the groundbreaking tricks to win X Games gold, highlighting the role big air competitions play in progressing the sport.

As more events have been added — particularly for women where few existed before — riders expect even more progression as the event is being added to the 2018 Olympic program for men and women.

“I think it’s really good that the girls now have big air. It’s gonna help them to push the sport, to push their level way higher,” said Parrot, who has won three X Games gold in the event in the past four years.

“The more big air they have, the more it’s gonna push it.”

By its nature, big air competitions call for the biggest tricks. On the men’s side, it has allowed riders to quickly progress from double to triple and now quad corks.

The acrobatic tricks require riders to complete off-axis flips, often with three or more rotations. Parrot and Canadian teammate Mark McMorris have led the progression of triple corks, a trick that as recently as the Sochi Games was considered a must-have to contend in slopestyle competitions.

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But unlike slopestyle — where riders must put together a run with rail tricks and jumps — big air calls for the biggest tricks in a rider’s bag.

“I think that there’s a lot of girls who have those three banger tricks that they can do on almost any jump,” said Langland. “That’s what big air is looking for and it’s amazing to see how far women’s snowboarding has come in such a short amount of time.”

Langland landed her cab double cork 1080 — a trick with three rotations — even though she doesn’t have a cab 900 yet.

It highlights an inherent part of big air competitions — riders often only practice the tricks in the practices leading up to the contest.

“Every bit of the foundation she’s worked on to build up to that,” said Mike Jankowski, head coach for the U.S. Freeskiing and Snowboarding teams. “It definitely wasn’t just a shot in the dark with your eyes closed. That’s how much she’s been working up to and working up to for that right moment where everything comes together and she can do it.”

McMorris landed mirrored triple corks to take bronze here but decided to try the quad cork after silver medalist Marcus Kleveland became the first rider to land one in competition.

McMorris, a 13-time X Games medalist and the 2014 Olympic bronze medalist in slopestyle, said he doesn’t even train triple corks until he’s practicing for a contest.

After the big air final, McMorris was conflicted about snowboarding’s step in a more acrobatic direction.

During his career, McMorris, 23, has seen the tricks progress from double corks now to quads. Spin-to-win is typically met with derision in the sport, and it takes time for riders to go from just landing the tricks to adding grabs and their own style.

“I wish it wouldn’t have gone in that direction so fast, but that’s progression,” he said. “You can’t get down on progression. I like to do well, so I’m going to go with it.”

One thing he and Parrot can agree on for the moment — quads are it, for now.

“I don’t think the quintuple cork is going to happen,” said Parrot. “It’s not in my head right now. There’s a lot of tricks to be learned before heading over there.”

Part of McMorris’ concern is the progression of the jumps. The X Games course, which this year included an 80-foot jump, is the best they ride on all year.

Course construction became a major issue during the halfpipe and slopestyle competitions in Sochi both in quality and size. Because the women are generally lighter and smaller than the men, they flew farther off those jumps.

McMorris and Parrot said a smaller jump might help the women progress more quickly since less air time is needed to land a double cork than a triple or quad, but conceded it might be impractical to build two.

“Obviously, Hailey killed it and Hail Mary’d one, but the majority of the girls that are trying that, they can’t do all four 720s or all the 900s, so it’s like they’re skipping steps,” McMorris said. “They need a jump half the size and they’d be comfortable with 1080s and double corks, in my opinion, but I think it’s great for their sport and the progression of it to have big air.”

For their part, the women said they were comfortable on the bigger jump. As long as they are built in a way to minimize impact — something Jankowski said should be more of a step-over than a step-down jump — they can be safe for all riders.

“It’s all about how it’s built, and X Games really built the jumps well,” said Anna Gasser, who took silver. “I really felt comfortable on the jump and I’d rather try on a big good jump than on a small, not-that-well-built jump.”

Gasser would know. The Austrian has four big air podiums with three wins at World Cups this season.

For the women, the addition to the Olympics has led to more opportunity. For years, the Olympic Games have plucked from X Games events — adding halfpipe and slopestyle events for snowboarders and freeskiers.

The X Games added big air for the first time for women in Norway last year and here this year.

“We’ve been in this for a while, and I think it’s finally time that women kind of get that spotlight that the men do,” Langland said. “We work just as hard, and we’re not at the same trick level but we’ll be there eventually.”

Ultimately, that’s where this is headed — more progression. Riders expect more in the next year, and especially on a quality X Games jump next year, before they see how much an Olympic course will accommodate.

“It’s gonna be tricky to see when it gets to the Olympics what’s going to be the level of riding, because level of riding varies from place to place we go depending on the course, the jump,” McMorris said. “I think the fact that it is an Olympic sport is why it’s getting so crazy, for sure.”