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Austria's Anna Gasser soared her way to a gold medal Monday.
Again.
Gasser defended her title by winning the women's snowboarding big air competition at the 2022 Beijing Olympics with a score of 185.50. New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (177.00) and Japan's Kokomo Murase (171.50) joined her on the podium.
The final featured the 12 competitors who advanced past the qualifying round after unleashing three runs apiece. The scores from each snowboarders two best runs, which had to feature different tricks, were then added together.
Here are the final standings:
The biggest storyline entering the final was whether Japan would sweep the podium with Murase, Reira Iwabuchi and Miyabi Onitsuka or if Sadowski-Synnott or Gasser would steal the show.
Gasser won the event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, while Sadowski-Synnott—who had already captured gold in these Games during slopestyle—made a statement as the top qualifier.
Sadowski-Synnott picked up right where she left off on her first run in the final to take the lead. She was followed closely by Gasser in what seemed to be shaping into a two-competitor race.
The veteran Gasser continued to apply pressure with a solid second run that featured a backside double 1080, but Sadowski-Synnott responded to hold on to a 0.25-point lead heading into the final jump.
With those successful runs under their belts, they had opportunities to go for a high-risk, high-reward approach with the gold medal hanging in the balance.
But before their last runs, Iwabuchi made a head-turning push for a medal by attempting a triple cork. She just missed landing it and finished off the podium.
It was then Gasser's turn, and she put down a clutch double cork 1260 to propel herself to the top of the leaderboard and once again put the pressure on Sadowski-Synnott.
The Kiwi star was unable to land her attempt and had to settle for silver.
Hailey Langland was the only American to advance past the qualifying round with three-time Olympic medalist Jamie Anderson, Julia Marino and Courtney Rummel falling short.
The United States will go after a third snowboarding gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday night in a new event at the Games.
The team snowboard cross event features one man and one woman on a team, and their times are combined together for the final leaderboard.
The United States, Italy, France, Canada and Australia each have two teams entered into the event.
Women's snowboard cross gold medalist Lindsey Jacobellis is partnering with Nick Baumgartner on the top United States squad.
Men's snowboard cross champion Alessandro Hammerle headlines the second-seeded Austrian squad in the event.
Italy won the only team snowboard cross race on the FIS World Cup circuit this season, and Australia is the reigning world champion in the event.
Team Snowboard Cross Info
Date: Friday, February 11
Start Time: 9 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Live Stream: NBCOlympics.com and Peacock
Preview
Italy must be viewed as the favorite to win the first-ever team snowboard cross event based on previous results.
The Italians won the lone FIS World Cup event this season, and they took second behind Australia at the 2021 World Championships.
Men's bronze medalist Omar Visintin and 2018 women's gold medalist Michela Moioli make up one of the best teams in the competition. The top-seeded Italian pair has an advantage to get out of the quarterfinal round because there are only three teams in its first heat.
The other three quarterfinal heats feature four teams. The top two squads from every heat advance to the semifinals. The top two finishers in the semifinal heats move on to the medal round.
Moioli was viewed as one of the favorites to win the women's competition, but she did not make it to the medal round. That shortcoming could serve as extra motivation to perform well in the team event.
The top American pair of Baumgartner and Jacobellis should make it out of the quarterfinal round. They are seeded fifth and will go head-to-head with the fourth-seeded Australian squad that features women's finalist Belle Brockhoff.
The other half of the bracket contains the lone pair of Beijing medalists. Canada's Eliot Grondin took silver in the men's competition, and Meryeta O'Dine finished third in the women's event.
The top Canadian duo takes on the French pair of Merlin Surget and Chloe Trespeuch in the quarterfinal heat. Trespeuch finished second behind Jacobellis in the women's final.
Each of the semifinal heats should be loaded if the favorites advance out of the first four heats. Italy, France and Canada could be best poised to advance to the medal round because of the strengths of both competitors.
The Americans can figure in the medal round, but they need Baumgartner to match the productivity of the other male riders.
Jacobellis is in fantastic form and can beat out any of her female competitors, but Baumgartner needs to give her an advantage of some sort in the second half of the heats.
Pick: 1. Italy, 2. Canada, 3. United States
France's Merlin Surget earned a fifth-place overall finish in the men's snowboard cross after winning the small final in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The United States' Jake Vedder, Spain's Lucas Eguibar and Italy's Tommaso Leoni rounded out the four-man field.
Vedder opened with a slim lead over Leoni before Surget surged ahead and passed him on the inside coming around a turn. Then Leoni fell to the snow and knocked down Eguibar.
That turned the small final into a two-horse race, as Surget and Vedder battled for first. Surget's lead grew as the event went on, and he coasted to the finish line.
Eguibar was the gold medalist in snowboard cross at the 2021 World Championships, which raised expectations in Beijing for the 28-year-old. While he was able to get the better of Alessandro Haemmerle and Eliot Grondin in Idre, Sweden, he placed fourth in a semifinal rematch.
Mick Dierdorff inadvertently cleared a path for Eguibar's path to the semis. Dierdorff was running second behind Haemmerle in their quarterfinal heat when he crashed going around the turn. He claimed Germany's Martin Noerl as collateral damage.
With his small final triumph, Surget earned 450 FIS points. Vedder collected 400 points thanks to his finish in sixth place overall.
In the overall final, Haemmerle went on to capture gold, edging out Grondin in a photo finish.
If the sport you're most excited to watch at the 2022 Winter Olympics is snowboarding, you won't have to wait long for the action to kick off.
Following the opening ceremony on Friday, the first snowboarding event—women's slopestyle qualification—will take place at the Genting Snow Park in Chongli District, Zhangjiakou, China. The venue is located about 150 miles from Beijing.
The women's qualifier will take place on Saturday at 10:45 a.m. Beijing time, which is 9:45 p.m. ET stateside (Beijing is 13 hours ahead of New York).
The Olympic slopestyle course has been showing up nonstop on the athletes' social media, and for good reason.
The course features a replica of the Great Wall of China, which, in addition to serving as a stunning backdrop to the riders' runs, also serves to protect them from strong westerly winds.
In typical fashion, the course features three jib sections up top before giving way to three massive jump sections. And by all accounts, the quality of the course and the snow is good enough to allow for riders to show off unseen progression, which is always the most exciting aspect of any Olympic snowboarding competition.
Let's take a closer look at the women who will contend for a place on the podium in slopestyle at the Beijing Games and break down when and how you can tune in.
Women's Slopestyle Odds
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, NZL -115
Jamie Anderson, USA +250
Tess Coady, AUS +700
Anna Gasser, AUT +1200
Schedule
Women's slopestyle qualifying: Friday, Feb. 4 at 9:45 p.m. ET on USA; streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Women's slopestyle final: Saturday, Feb. 5 at 8:30 p.m. ET on USA; streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
The name to know for the U.S. in women's slopestyle is Jamie Anderson. She won the first-ever gold medal when the discipline made its Olympic debut at the 2014 Sochi Games and successfully defended her gold medal four years later in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
This time around, though, the 31-year-old has some stiff competition.
New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott is making her second Olympic appearance. At Pyeongchang 2018, she finished 13th in slopestyle but surprised for bronze in big air, becoming New Zealand's first Olympic medalist in 26 years.
These days, the 20-year-old isn't accustomed to finishing off the podium in slopestyle. She most recently took gold at X Games Aspen in January, beating out Anderson, and also took first place at Dew Tour in December.
At X Games, the Kiwi became the first female snowboarder to land a combo of a frontside double 1080 (three full spins and two off-axis flips) and backside double 1080 in competition. The combo, should she successfully put it down in Beijing, will almost certainly win her gold.
Sadowski-Synnott also has a 1260 in big air, and may need to attempt it at the end of her slopestyle run depending on how high the level of competition gets among the women.
Australia's Tess Coady is another podium favorite, coming off a slopestyle win at the Laax Open in Switzerland in January. She finished the season ranked third in the world.
Anna Gasser of Austria has landed a triple cork in training but has yet to successfully perform it in a big air or slopestyle competition.
In all, there are 30 competitors in the women's slopestyle field representing 19 nations. Twelve will progress to the final, which will be broadcast in prime time on USA Saturday night.
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Ahead of his Olympic swan song next month in Beijing, Shaun White finished third in the men's snowboarding halfpipe at the Laax Open in Switzerland on Saturday.
According to NBC Sports OlympicTalk, that marked White's first podium finish since 2018, as he took a three-year break from snowboarding following the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Per OlympicTalk, White is expected to be one of four male snowboarders named to Team USA for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
White told Matt Sullivan of Rolling Stone this week that the 2022 Winter Olympics will "for sure" be the final one of his illustrious career.
The 35-year-old White, who is set to make his fifth Olympic appearance, is the most decorated snowboarder in Olympic history.
He is one of only two male snowboarders to win three Olympic medals, and all three of those medals are gold.
White made his Olympic debut in Turin, Italy, in 2006 and won gold, and he followed it up with another gold medal at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
After shockingly finishing off the podium in fourth at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, White returned to the top of the sport in 2018 in PyeongChang by winning his third halfpipe gold.
OlympicTalk noted that White played it somewhat safe Saturday, as he cruised on his second run since he was already assured of being the top-finishing American.
He also didn't attempt a double cork 1440, which is the trick that helped him finish atop the podium four years ago.
Meanwhile, Beijing favorite Ayumu Hirano of Japan hit consecutive 1440s and won the event with a score of 93.25, while White scored an 84.
Entering his final Olympics, White seems to be favoring health and availability, and the fact that he was still able to finish third without pulling out his best stuff could bode well for his chances of medaling.
If neither White nor any other American finishes on the podium in men's halfpipe in Beijing, it will mark only the second time that has happened since snowboarding was introduced to the Olympic program in 1998.
There was no title Sunday for Shaun White as he gears up toward the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
White finished in seventh place in the men's snowboard superpipe final at the Dew Tour at Copper Mountain in Colorado. He posted a disappointing 30.75 and 10.50 on his first two runs, which put the pressure on the final one if he was going to make the podium.
While he was much better with an 82.00, it wasn't enough to defeat Yuto Totsuka.
The entire field was left looking up at Totsuka, who took home the title with a score of 95.50 with a spectacular final run. He was joined by Taylor Gold (92.00) and Ruka Hirano (89.00) in the medal positions.
Yet it was White who was the headliner, especially after he delivered under pressure in Thursday's qualifying run. As Michelle Bruton of Forbes noted, he posted a score of just 27.50 in his first qualifying run but clinched a spot in the final with a fourth-place finish with a score of 85.75.
Alas, there were not enough late heroics for the snowboarding legend.
Chloe Kim looks ready for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The American took first place in the Dew Tour women's snowboard superpipe final after landing two 1080s on her last run Sunday:
The final run earned a score of 96.00, just ahead of Queralt Castellet for first place.
Kim fell on each of her first two runs, which would have put her far from medal contention. Only the best score counts, however, and she was able to come through with the pressure at its highest.
"I'm never putting myself in that situation again," she said afterward. "That was horrible."
The Dew Tour was the first event of the Olympic season for the 21-year-old, who won gold in the halfpipe at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She is expected to qualify for the U.S. team once again via her spot in the world rankings.
Decorated snowboarding champion Shaun White may be set for his Olympic swansong next year in Beijing.
During an appearance on NBC's Today show Wednesday, White said he "think[s]" the 2022 Winter Olympics will be his "last run" as an Olympic snowboarder:
When asked to explain his decision, White said:
"It's hard to talk about because my whole life I've kind of been looked at as somewhat superhuman, because I do these things [in the halfpipe]. ... I've prided myself on being that individual. And, man, realizing and admitting to myself and everyone else, 'Yeah, I'm human,' it's taken a toll."
The 35-year-old White is the most successful snowboarder in Olympic history with three gold medals.
Snowboarding was first introduced into the Olympic program in 1998, and White made his Olympic debut during the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy.
White won men's halfpipe gold in Turin 2006 and Vancouver in 2010 before disappointingly failing to make the podium in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, finishing fourth.
The San Diego native earned redemption at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, however, returning to the top of the mountain as the halfpipe gold medalist.
While White was still at the height of his game then, the 18-time Winter X Games medalist recently admitted that snowboarding has taken a greater toll on his body as of late.
According to Tom Schad of USA Today, White said during a media summit that the "day-in and day-out grind" of doing tricks is "getting harder."
White added that it is compounded by the fact that tricks that were once considered top of the line are now commonplace.
The United States' 14 Olympic gold medals and 31 total medals in snowboarding are the most of any nation by far, and White has contributed heavily to the country's success.
If he indeed commits to retiring from Olympic snowboarding after Beijing, White will have one more opportunity to add to the medal count for himself and Team USA.
The 2022 Winter Olympics will run from Feb. 4 through Feb. 20.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White headlined the men's field at the first of three 2021-22 FIS Snowboard Halfpipe World Cups at Copper Mountain in Frisco, Colorado, on Saturday.
The event kicked off the season's U.S. Grand Prix tour and was also second of four U.S. Olympic selection events for snowboard halfpipe leading up to February's Olympics in Beijing.
While the participants took part in three runs, only their best run counted.
White started the day in impressive fashion, scoring a 75.50 on his first run after throwing down two switch-frontside double cork 1080s into a frontside 540, a double McTwist 1260 before finishing with an alley-oop backside rodeo.
He finished the first run ranked third behind Japanese competitors Ruka Hirano (89.25) and Raibu Katayama (81.25).
However, the 35-year-old struggled in his second run, scoring a 64.25 after performing two frontside 1080s, a pair of frontside 540s and a double McTwist 1260.
Big performers in the second run included Americans Taylor Gold (87.00) and Chase Josey (85.25) and Japan's Yuto Totsuka (87.75), who bounced back from a rough first run in which he recorded a 14.25.
White had an even worse performance on his third and final run of the afternoon, scoring a 5.00 after performing a double cork 1080 but failing to stick the landing. He finished the afternoon ranked eighth, while Hirano, Switzerland's Jan Scherrer and Totsuka finished on the podium.
Before Saturday's event, White last competed in March, placing fourth at the U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen. That event ended his three-year hiatus following his victory at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.
