Mack Wins Mammoth Slopestyle and Olympic Team Spot
In the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix, both the U.S. men and women swept the snowboard slopestyle podium at Mammoth Mountain. With Olympic spots on the line, Kyle Mack (Bloomfield, Mich.) led the men, clinching his spot in the Winter Olympics, while Jules Marino (Westport, Conn.) and Hailey Langland (San Clemente, Calif.) took second and third respectively for the women to grab their spots in Korea.
Red Gerard (Silverthorne, Colo.), who qualified for the Olympics at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Snowmass last week, took second place. Brock Crouch (Mammoth Mountain, Calif.) was third.
Mack, who was sitting in third place in the Olympic standings behind Gerard and Chris Corning (Silverthorne, Colo.), locked up his spot with a clean run. “I’m feeling just amazing, unbelievable right now,” said Mack. “Red is one of my best friends—he’s been such a homie, and I couldn’t be more excited to be heading to Korea with him. I’m just excited to go and be a part of it and represent my country.”
In the women’s event, Jamie Anderson (South Lake Tahoe, Calif) had already qualified for the Olympics in the Dew Tour in December, but still went all out to take the win.
“I knew I would be going with Jules and Hailey,” said Anderson, after her run. “They are just so talented and young and filled with good energy. They’re just amazing people and riders”
Langland and Marino were equally as excited to attend their first Olympics. “This is a really surreal moment right now,” said Marino. “It definitely hasn’t sunk in. Before Hailey and dropped in for our last run we knew we were going to the Olympics together. We’re 17 and 20 and we are going to the Olympics. That’s insane. It’s such a big event and I can’t believe it. We were so stoked and just gave each other a hug and couldn’t be happier that we get to experience it together.”
The fourth spot on the U.S. Olympic snowboard slopestyle team will be named at the beginning of next week. The objective spots will be officially nominated on Saturday night at the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team Nomination Ceremony Presented by Visa. Live stream the ceremony on the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team Facebook page at 8:30 p.m. MT.
RESULTS
Men’s slopestyle results
Women’s slopestyle results
OLYMPIC STANDINGS
Officially qualified men
Chris Corning
Red Gerard
Kyle Mack
Officially qualified women
Jamie Anderson
Jules Marino
Hailey Langland