Snowboard racing is a form of

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...

where competitors attempt to obtain the fastest time down a course. Snowboard racing can be done against the clock, or by two or more competitors racing in a head-to-head format. The current Olympic snowboarding racing events are

parallel giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up th ...

parallel slalom Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of IBM ...

and

snowboard cross Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a snowboard competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include cambered turns, various types of jumps, berms, rollers, ...

Governing body

World tour events in snowboard racing are hosted by the

International Ski and Snowboard Federation The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, also known as FIS (french: Fédération Internationale de Ski et de Snowboard), is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. It was previously known as the International ...

(FIS). The FIS currently organises both a

world cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

tour and a

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

for each of the Olympic snowboard racing events (parallel giant slalom, parallel slalom and snowboard cross). The

International Snowboard Federation The International Snowboarding Federation was a body organised to run snowboarding competition. Following the collapse of the National Association of Professional Snowboarders in 1990, five nations and 120 racers established the International Sn ...

was the former governing body. The struggling

does not currently host a world tour in any snowboard racing format, but it is possible that it may host a tour for banked slalom in coming years.

Event types

The major racing events are as follows:

Parallel giant slalom

(PGS): The parallel giant slalom event includes two evenly spaced courses (10–15 meters apart) with vertical distances of 20–27 meters between turning gates, allowing speeds up to 70 km/h. Once qualifications are complete, racers are placed in a head-to-head knockout format, starting with 16 athletes and moving to a final race for 1st and 2nd. It uses a much longer course than parallel slalom with gates set further apart (spaced 20–27 meters apart), resulting in even higher speeds, while racing against an opponent on a similar course place parallel to the other course. Parallel giant slalom is an Olympic event, and the FIS organises a world tour and world cup for this event.

Giant slalom

(GS): The original Olympic discipline for snowboard racing was giant slalom, but it featured in only one Winter Olympics (Nagano 1998). It uses a much longer course than slalom, with gates set further apart (spaced 25–32 meters apart), resulting in even higher speeds. This event is still staged at Continental Cup and Regional level, but the last giant slalom world cup was held in 2000 a
Mt. Ste Anne, Quebec, Canada
with

Jasey-Jay Anderson Jasey-Jay Anderson (born 13 April 1975 in Val-Morin, Quebec) is a Canadian snowboarder and Olympic gold medallist, who competed in the 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, Winter Olympics. Anderson currently resides in Mont-Tremblant outside ...

(CAN) and

Karine Ruby Karine Ruby (4 January 1978 in Bonneville, Haute-Savoie – 29 May 2009) was a French snowboarder and Olympic champion. She won two medals at the Winter Olympics, with a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano,

(FRA)] winning.

Parallel slalom

(PSL): Parallel slalom debuted at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Olympics in 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Boarders race downhill through sets of gates that force extremely tight and quick turns (spaced 8–15 meters apart), requiring plenty of technical skill while racing against an opponent in the other course.

Triple slalom

(TS): The triple slalom is a concept event that has been tested as a North American cup event in November 2011 at Copper Mountain. It was spearheaded by the Canadian team, as FIS had discussed it as a world cup event and possibly an Olympic format for slalom, but it had not been tested till that point. Once it was tested, it was realized it may have potential but was not the right fit for an Olympic discipline.

Slalom

(SL): In slalom, boarders race downhill through sets of gates that force extremely tight and quick turns, (spaced 8–15 meters apart) requiring plenty of technical skill while racing against the clock. The winner of this event is based on 2 runs combined time.

Super-G

(SG): Boarders competing in a Super G event travel through sets of gates spaced 30–40 meters apart, requiring plenty of courage and speed while testing the endurance of the racer at speeds of up to 100 km/h. This has not been a world cup event since 1999 a
Mt. Bachelor, Oregon

Snowboard cross

(SBX): In snowboard cross, four snowboard racers start simultaneously atop an inclined course. The racers go over a series of features while trying to reach the finish line first. Snowboard cross became an Olympic sport in 2006.

Team snowboard cross

Team snowboard cross is a relatively new event. US Snowboard requested it be a part of the Winter Olympics starting in 2018. It will be confirmed in Fall 2014.

Banked slalom

Banked slalom is a loosely organized group of events, primarily in the Pacific Northwest, but now seen increasingly across Western North America and the rest of the Snowboard world. Well established and iconic Banked Slalom events include Mt. Baker Banked Slalom, Neil Edgeworth Banked Slalom (NEBS) at Big White, BC and Dicks Ditch Classic (Jackson Hole, Wy). It consists of a gully run that is left largely unprepared by machines, safety fencing on the turns and in spill zones and an open relaxed format that promotes a fun spirited friendship among competitors and volunteers. It is a rite of passage to win the Baker Banked Slalom, including many of the strongest Snowboard racers and freestylers in the world including Ross Rebagliati, Terje Haakonsen and Maelle Ricker.

References

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Racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

Racing