Gerard Fifth, Corning Seventh, Langland 12th In Big Air Finals
In the men's snowboard big air final on Tuesday, Feb. 15, Red Gerard earned the top finish for the U.S. men in fifth, followed by Chris Corning in seventh. The competition was heavy. and the boys managed to hold on to two top 10 finishes despite it all. China's Yiming Su took home gold, followed by Norway's Mons Roisland with silver, and Canada's Max Parrot with bronze.
Gerard, who prefers slopestyle, came into the comp knowing to fight for a podium, he'd have to throw 18s and 19s, something he wasn't feeling great about on Monday. Instead, he chose to throw something he knows, and see how they scored. He opened big air with a backside triple cork 1620, and nailed a switch backside triple cork on his third run to move him into bronze-medal position for a brief moment.
At the end of the day he'll happily take fifth, he said.
"Like I said before I really really wanted to get on the podium at slopestyle," Gerard said after the conclusion of the big air comp. "It took a few days to recover from that, and I'm probably still not fully recovered from it. But all and all I made two finals at the Olympics and came here and did what I wanted. I was consistent, I landed runs, and I had a great time with Team USA, those guys are my best friends. whether it was us hanging out in the village playing cards, or us snowboarding together, that's something that you get at the Olympics that you don't get anywhere else."
Corning, who threw a huge backside quad cork 1800 on the first jump, ended the day a bit farther down the rankings than he had hoped. His first trick earned him a score of 92, but he couldn't top it in his second and third go.
"I had a really rough practice, I wasn't able to focus and do what I wanted to do in practice. And the last time I tried to do (a back quad 18) I was 0 for 3. So to be able to put another one down at this awesome jump, I was super stoked."
Hailey Langland finished 12th in the women's snowboard big air final. Her first two runs, she threw a cab 1080 Indy but wasn't able to land either trick.
“Ordinarily I wouldn’t have tried the cab 10, because I’m really scared of that trick, but it’s almost like it wasn’t just for me, it was for everyone on my team,” Langland said. “I’m really, really proud that I got to try it a couple times, and I really am looking forward to the next contest to try and put one down.”
Austria's Anna Gasser took gold, followed by New Zealand's Zoi Synott Sadowski with silver, and Japan's Kokomo Murase with bronze.
