Snowboarding

Snowboarding was created in the United States in the 1960s, when social change and the search for greater freedom of expression, along with advances in equipment, led to the development of new ways to play sports on the snow. In the 1970s, the production of snowboards increased and the sport began to gain popularity across the board with the involvement of surfers and skateboarders. Snowboarders began to ‘invade’ ski resorts. In 1982, the United States held the first national championships and it hosted the first world championships in 1983. The International Snowboarding Federation (ISF) was formed seven years later and the International Ski Federation (FIS) introduced snowboarding as an FIS discipline in 1994.

Snowboarding first appeared in the Olympic programme at the 1998 Nagano Games, with the giant slalom and halfpipe events. Parallel giant slalom was added at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. At the 2006 Games in Turin, snowboard cross made its debut, followed by slopestyle in 2014 in Sochi and big air in 2018 in Pyeonchang. The most recent addition was mixed team snowboard cross at the 2022 Games in Beijing.

In the halfpipe, competitors perform a series of stunts while snowboarding down a slope with a semi-cylindrical shape. They are scored on the breadth and difficulty of the jumps.

In the parallel giant slalom, two snowboarders ride down two parallel tracks at the same time. During the qualifiers, each competitor rides down the two tracks (blue and red) once. The two times are added together, and the 16 best combined times advance to the elimination rounds. The first in each group qualifies for the next round until reaching the finals.

In snowboard cross, timed qualifiers are held to determine the top 16 athletes, who compete in direct races between four athletes per group on a track with jumps, moguls, and wide curves. Each heat determines the best two athletes for the next round, until reaching the finals.

In the big air event, competitors use a ramp to make jumps and perform a series of aerial tricks.

In slopestyle, athletes snowboard down a course with different types of structures (rails, jumps) and are judged on the breadth, originality and quality of their tricks.

Italian snowboarder Michela Moioli won Italy's first gold medal in snowboarding at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang for the snowboard cross event. The first ever Italian Olympic snowboarding medal was won by Thomas Prugger, who won silver in the giant slalom at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.