Olympic Snowboarding 2022: Updated Odds and NBC Live-Stream Schedule
The Beijing 2022 opening ceremony isn't until Friday, but Olympic competition is already underway as of Wednesday, with curling and luge events kicking off the Games.
If you're tuning in to the Olympics to watch Shaun White, Chloe Kim, Lindsey Jacobellis and the other snowboarders, the first medal events are set to begin on Sunday with the women's slopestyle final.
As a full Games snowboarding primer, we'll break down the schedule for the five different disciplines—halfpipe, slopestyle and big air, snowboardcross and parallel giant slalom—as well as the athletes to watch in each one and who is a favorite to make the podium.
The full schedule of Olympic events can be found here. Remember that Beijing observes China Standard Time, which is 13 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. Many events will re-air in American prime time.
Slopestyle and Big Air
Women's Slopestyle Odds
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, NZL -115
Jamie Anderson, USA +250
Tess Coady, AUS +700
Anna Gasser, AUT +1200
Women's Big Air Odds
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, NZL +400
Miyabi Onitsuka, JPN +500
Anna Gasser, AUT +600
Reira Iwabuchi, JPN +700
Jamie Anderson, 31, is the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist in women's slopestyle, but she'll be hard-pressed to three-peat in Beijing.
New Zealander Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, 20, was a newcomer when she competed at the 2018 Games, finishing 13th in slopestyle and winning bronze in big air. But she's quickly established herself as the one to beat in the discipline, coming off a first-place finish at Dew Tour in December and again at the X Games in January in both big air and slopestyle. She finished second in both.
Why are these events grouped together? Athletes who qualify for the Olympics in slopestyle are automatically qualified in big air. But the disciplines require very different skills; slopestyle is highly technical, beginning with three jib sections up top followed by three jump sections. Big air, by contrast, involves performing only one trick off the biggest jump.
Sadowski-Synnott took slopestyle gold at the X Games after becoming the first female snowboarder ever to land a back-to-back frontside double 1080 (three full spins and two off-axis flips) and backside double 1080 in competition. She won big air gold with a huge backside 1260—which pushed Anderson to try it for the first time in competition. Sadowski-Synnott has set the gold standard in both events heading into Beijing.
But watch out for Austria's Anna Gasser in big air. The 30-year-old became the first woman to land a triple cork in training in 2018. She hasn't landed it in competition yet, but she'll almost certainly attempt it in Beijing.
Men's Slopestyle Odds
Red Gerard, USA +300
Marcus Kleveland, NOR +400
Mark McMorris, CAN +400
Sebastien Toutant, CAN +500
Men's Big Air Odds
Max Parrot, CAN +600
Mark McMorris, CAN +600
Chris Corning, USA +700
Rene Rinnekangas, FIN +700
Just as recent and rapid progression is the name of the game in women's slopestyle and big air, the same is true on the men's side.
Red Gerard won slopestyle gold as a 17-year-old in his Olympic debut in 2018, clinching his run with a backside triple cork 1440. In 2022, a run that included that same trick wasn't enough for him to land on the podium at X Games Aspen, where he finished fourth.
Canada's Mark McMorris took X Games gold last month with the only run that included three triple corks (switch backside triple 1620, frontside triple 1440, backside triple 1620).
Rinnekangas, meanwhile, landed a competition-first 1980, making him the name to watch in big air. Marcus Kleveland and Max Parrot are coming off gold and silver, respectively, in big air at X Games with a backside quad 1800 for Kleveland and a cab triple 1800 for Parrot.
Gerard did take first place in slopestyle at Dew Tour in December, and he has what it takes to defend his Olympic gold. But the rest of the field won't make it easy.
Schedule
Women's slopestyle final: Saturday, Feb. 5 at 8:30 p.m. ET on USA; streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Men's slopestyle final: Sunday, Feb. 6 at 11 p.m. ET on NBC; streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Women's big air final: Monday, Feb. 14 at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC; streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Men's big air final: Tuesday, Feb. 15 at 12 a.m. ET on NBC; streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Halfpipe
Men's Odds
Ayumu Hirano, JPN +225
Yuto Totsuka, JPN +300
Scotty James, AUS +300
Shaun White, USA +600
The name most people know heading into the men's Olympic halfpipe snowboarding event is Shaun White, but the defending gold medalist from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games isn't the favorite in Beijing.
White took gold four years ago off the strength of a run that included back-to-back double 1440s (four full rotations, two off-axis spins), as well as his signature Double McTwist 1260 and a frontside 1260. White had never attempted the frontside double 1440 into the cab (backside) double 1440 until he did it in his run.
Fast-forward to 2022, however, and the game has changed. Japan's Ayumu Hirano and Yuto Totsuka both have a triple cork in their bags, with Hirano having landed it at Dew Tour and X Games. And James is coming off an X Games gold with a run that included a switch backside double cork 1260 Weddle grab, a cab double 1440, a frontside 900, a backside double 1260 and a frontside double 1260.
Women's Odds
Chloe Kim, USA -250
Cai Xuetong, CHN +600
Queralt Castellet, ESP +800
Sena Tomita, JPN +900
Chloe Kim, the defending gold medalist in women's halfpipe, is the runaway favorite heading into Beijing. She's the only woman who has put down back-to-back 1080s in her runs and has won every halfpipe competition she's entered since January 2021, after she took time away from snowboarding to attend her freshman year at Princeton.
But Queralt Castellet is a dark horse. She's at the top of the world rankings, with the same number of points as Kim. The Spaniard has either won or been on the podium in her last seven of seven contests and is coming off a silver-medal finish at X Games Aspen (where Kim did not compete and Tomita took gold).
Schedule
Women's halfpipe final: Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC; streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Men's halfpipe final: Thursday, Feb. 10 at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC; streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Snowboardcross
Women's Odds
Charlotte Bankes, GBR +130
Chloe Trespeuch, FRA +650
Michela Moioli, ITA +650
Belle Brockhoff, AUS +900
American Lindsey Jacobellis is the name most people know in women's snowboardcross, for good reason; Beijing will mark her fifth Olympics. Only Shaun White has as many Olympic appearances in snowboarding.
But Jacobellis hasn't earned a medal at the Games since her debut at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, and she's not a top favorite in Beijing. That would be Charlotte Bankes, who competed for France internationally up until 2018 and now competes for Great Britain. The 26-year-old won the 2021 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championship.
Men's Odds
Not available
Schedule
Women's snowboardcross final: Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 1:30 p.m. ET on USA; streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Men's snowboard cross final: Thursday, Feb. 10 at 1:00 a.m. ET on USA; streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Snowboardcross odds via Oddschecker.
Parallel Giant Slalom
Men's Odds
Not available
Women's Odds
Ester Ledecka, CZE +135
Sofiya Nadyrshina, ROC +400
Theresa Ramona Hofmeister, GER +600
Julia Dujmovits, AUT +1200
Ester Ledecka is a dual threat. At the 2018 Games, she won gold in both super-G (alpine skiing) and parallel giant slalom (snowboarding). In doing so, she became the first person to win gold medals in two different events using two types of equipment at the Olympics.
Schedule
Men's and women's parallel giant slalom finals: Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 1:30 a.m. ET on USA; streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
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