There are 7 main snowboarding disciplines. 

1. Slopestyle

This is one of the most popular types of snowboarding right now and is one of my favourites to watch. If you’re familiar with the thriving snowboard legend Mark McMorris, you’re familiar with Slopestyle snowboarding. The Slopestyle event is exciting because of its diversity of features. Competitors hit huge jumps and a variety of terrain park features all in one run and are issued a score by a panel of judges.

2. Freestyle Big Air

This event involves high risk and high reward. Competitors gain impressive amounts of speed, hit huge jumps and perform their choice of tricks while in the air. Athletes compete for the highest score decided by a panel of judges. Snowboarders aim to complete risky, stylish and clean tricks and landings to earn high scores from the judges. 

3. Freestyle Halfpipe

This event invites competitors to show off their style and skills on a halfpipe that can be up to 22 feet tall. Competitors gain speed and perform tricks such as grabs and flips while airborne and are given a score by a panel of judges. This event has grown in popularity in recent years and I predict this growth will continue into the future.

4. Alpine Parallel Slalom

This event involves two competitors racing at a time on separate courses spaced about 10-15 meters apart. Competitors attempt to be one of the sixteen fastest racers during the qualifying round to move onto the elimination round. The elimination round involves head to head races where racers attempt to be faster than the competitor they’re matched up with. Each pair of competitors races twice. Racers switch courses for the second race and the fastest of the first race begins the second race with a head start of the same amount of time they were ahead after the first race. 

5. Alpine Parallel Giant Slalom

This event is very similar to the previously mentioned Alpine Parallel Slalom with one major difference: larger distances between gates. This allows for racing speeds up to 80km/h, a slightly higher average compared to Alpine Parallel Slalom. 

6. Snowboardcross

This event involves banked turns and small jumps allowing competitors to go airborne. Competitors complete the course individually and will be put into their starting positions according to their race time. Four competitors race side by side on the one course and attempt to be one of the two fastest of their race to then move onto the next round. Four competitors race in the finals to try and obtain a spot on the podium. 

7. Para-Snowboardcross

This event is similar to Snowboardcross with a couple differences. First, the course features are slightly different compared to the Snowboardcross features to better accommodate the competitors. Second, competitors race individually for timed runs as opposed to racing other competitors side by side. 

Cheers, 

Jo