Snowboard
Which snowboarder will follow in Chloe Kim’s golden footprints?
That’ll be the question being asked ahead of Lausanne 2020 as athletes look to replicate the record-breaking American.
Kim won double snowboarding gold at the Youth Olympic Games in 2016.
Two years later, aged just 17, she won Halfpipe gold at the senior Games in Pyeongchang – becoming snowboarding's youngest ever Olympic champion.
This January, athletes will have that recent piece of history in mind when aiming to trick and flip their way to gold at Lausanne 2020.
Here’s a rundown of the events on display, featuring explainers on each discipline, while you can also find out how to watch all the action unfold live on Olympic Channel.
How to watch snowboarding at Youth Olympic Games
Olympic Channel will stream 300 hours of action from the 13 days of competition in Lausanne 2020 with a dedicated Winter YOG channel available on olympicchannel.com, YouTube and connected devices such as Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Android TV and Roku.
There will be an action-packed daily live show featuring news, highlights, trending stories and interviews in a fun and interactive format streamed on Facebook, Twitter and olympicchannel.com, plus a daily Olympic Channel Podcast featuring insightful interviews with personalities from across the Olympic world.
Fans can also follow Olympic Channel's coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to learn more about the event, while a full schedule of events - including online streaming details can be found here.
Snowboarding location and dates
The snowboarding events take place in Leysin and Villars from January 18-22 at Lausanne 2020. (Scroll down for full schedule)
Tricks and flips in the Halfpipe, Slopestyle and Big Air
Kim and compatriot Jake Pates won the Halfpipe and Slopestyle in 2016. Those two disciplines return in 2020, while a debut for Big Air makes it three judged snowboarding events. Here's a closer look at all there, featuring explainer videos on each:
Halfpipe – Snowboarders perform tricks as they travel down the halfpipe, and will be judged on amplitude, technical difficulty, creativity and landing.
There are two runs per competitor in qualification, with the top 12 reaching the final where the results are based on the best out of three runs.
Slopestyle – Following a similar format to Halfpipe, Slopestyle sees snowboarders tackle a course featuring a variety of hits, jumps, rails, tables and big-airs.
The competitors are once more judged on amplitude, technical difficulty, creativity and landing.
Big Air – Making its YOG debut, big air is all about one (big) jump. Competitors build up speed before the jump, and once in the air they look to perform tricks before producing a clean landing.
Each snowboarder has two jumps in qualification and three jumps in the final. The best score counts in qualification, while in the final the two best scores are combined.
The breathless Snowboard Cross
Fancy watching four snowboarders go head-to-head down a course featuring tricky turns, bumpy straights and a handful of jumps?
Of course you do.
Snowboard Cross is a must-watch, with competitors going all-out to cross the finish line in first.
At Lausanne 2020, the men’s and women’s snowboard cross will see the top-16 snowboarders reach the round-robin group heats, where every competitor will eventually race each other before a points system (1st=4 pts, 2nd=3 pts, 3rd=2 pts, 4th=1 pt) determines which eight skiers have made the semi-finals.
The top two in both semi-finals reach the big final, and the winner of that race takes home the gold.
Don’t forget the Ski-Snowboard Cross Mixed Team
The name alone tells you this event is packed with even more drama.
Four athletes from each nation take part in the Team Ski-Snowboard Cross (XT), running in this order: female snowboarder, female skier, male snowboarder, male skier.
The 16 nations will first compete in the quarter-finals, with the top two from each heat advancing to the next stage.
Each race is continuous, with the starting gate only opening after the previous team-mate has crossed the finish line. If a competitor cannot complete their run, the gate will open for the team’s next skier once a penalty time is reached.
Watch the video below to see how Germany took XT gold at Lillehammer 2016.
Snowboarding schedule at Lausanne 2020
Saturday, January 18
09:30 - 15:00 - Women's Slopestyle
Sunday, January 19
09:30 - 15:00 - Men's Slopestyle
Monday, January 20
09:30 - 12:45 - Women's/Men's Qualification Big Air
11:00 - 14:30 - Women's/Men's Snowboard Cross
Tuesday, January 21
09:30 - 15:00 - Women's/Men's Halfpipe
11:00 - 12:45 - FreeSki-Snowboard Cross Mixed Team
Wednesday, January 22
10:00 - 13:00 - Women's/Men's Finals Big Air