Winter Olympics 2018: What is parallel giant slalom snowboarding?

Snowboarding aficionados will have multiple events to look forward to watching in the 2018 Winter Games: slopestyle, big air, halfpipe, parallel giant slalom and cross. What is parallel giant slalom, specifically?

Unlike some of the other snowboard disciplines that fall into the freestyle category (slopestyle, big air, halfpipe), where riders are able to perform tricks on a course, snowboarding parallel giant slalom is a racing event.

In snowboarding racing events, riders will set off down a course with the aim of winning by either posting the best time or beating another rider racing alongside them.

Thus, in parallel giant slalom, riders race head-to-head on runs that are side-by-side or — you guessed it — parallel to one another.

The event is composed of a qualification round and then an elimination round consisting of the Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and medal finals.

In quals, riders advance down each course (blue and red) once, with their two times combined. The competitors with the 16 fastest cumulative times will advance to the elimination round.

The two courses are spaced 10-15 meters apart and, given the design of the course, riders can reach speeds of 70km/h.

In the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Russian Vic Wild won gold in parallel giant slalom for the men, while Swiss Patrizia Kummer placed first for the women.

In Pyeongchang, the qualification run for the women’s giant parallel slalom event will take place on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 10:00 p.m. ET, while quals for the men will begin on the same day a little later at 10:27 p.m. ET.

The medal events (bronze and gold) are set for Saturday, Feb. 24 for both the men and women, beginning at 11:00 p.m. ET.

Next: What is slopestyle snowboarding?

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