Canada and Norway killed it in the Olympics Snowboarding Men’s Slopestyle qualifiers

The qualifying runs for the Olympic snowboarding men’s slopestyle discipline concluded late Friday night/early Saturday morning for those of us in the Western Hemisphere. Let’s take a look at which riders will advance.

The men’s slopestyle field was narrowed to 12 on Friday night at the Phoenix Snow Park in Pyeongchang. The top riders in the discipline will advance to the finals on Saturday night, Eastern Time. The riders experienced a delay prior to the start of the event, which was supposed to be at 8:00 p.m. ET, due to “technical difficulties.” (It was later revealed to be a broken camera at the bottom of the slope.)

The strong headwind definitely played a factor in the men’s runs. Team USA’s Ryan Stassel fell on his first run and wasn’t able to improve in his second, posting scores of just 23.5 points and 22.63 points out of 100. Needless to say, Stassel won’t advance to the finals. Neither will American Chris Corning.

Let’s take a look at the 12 riders who posted the best scores and break down some highlights of the most jaw-dropping tricks thrown down on Friday night.

Men’s Snowboarding Slopestyle Qualification Results

Norway dominated the first heat of slopestyle qualifiers, sending three riders to the finals.

The Norwegians would add another finalist in the second heat in Staale Sandbech.

But in the second heat, it was all about Team Canada, though the U.S. team finally got some representation with first-time Olympian Red Gerard.

Here are the 12 finalists in men’s slopestyle:

1. Max Parrot, Canada, 87.36
2. Mark McMorris, Canada, 86.83
3. Marcus Kleveland, Norway, 83.71
4. Red Gerard, United States, 82.55
5. Staale Sandbech, Norway, 82.13
6. Carlos Garcia Knight, New Zealand, 80.10
7. Tyler Nicholson, Canada, 79.21
8. Seppe Smits, Belgium, 78.36
9. Sebastien Toutant, Canada, 78.01
10. Mons Roisland, Norway, 76.50
11. Torgeir Bergrem, Norway, 75.45
12. Niklas Mattsson, Sweden, 73.53

Men’s Slopestyle Highlights

Norway’s Marcus Kleveland was the first-ever snowboarder to successfully complete a quad cork 1800 in competition, and was hoping that the trick would win him an Olympic gold medal, as well. He scored 83.71 on his first run in Heat 1, and that was good enough to win the first heat and advance to the finals.

But even though Canada’s Sebastien Toutant came in third with a score of 78.01, he demonstrated that he could challenge the difficulty level of the Norwegian’s tricks.

Toutant threw down a backside 1080 in his first run; that’s three full 360-degree rotations, facing down the jump backward:

Toutant fell on his second run, but his first score was good enough to land him a third-place finish in the first heat.

In the second heat, 17-year-old Gerard killed it in his Olympic debut. He finished off his first run with two big jumps and earned an 82.55.

Toutant’s teammates, Canadians Mark McMorris and Max Parrot, came out strong for their country in the second heat.

McMorris suffered a horrific crash nearly a year ago that landed him in the hospital with a fractured jaw, a ruptured spleen, multiple rib fractures and a collapsed left lung, among other injuries. It’s remarkable that not only was he able to qualify for competition in Pyeongchang, but post a score of 83.70 on his first run.

But McMorris one-upped even himself with his second run, putting together a ridiculously smooth sequence of eye-popping tricks to earn a 86.83.

Parrot finished just behind McMorris on his first run with an 83.45, impressing judges with his near-flawless execution:

Not to be outdone by his teammate, Parrot upped the ante yet again on his second run, setting a new high score with a whopping 87.36:

Sweden’s Mans Hedberg had a scary fall at the end of his first run, and had to receive medical attention on the slope. Hedberg broke his neck early in 2017 and was back on his board six months later, making this injury all the more heartbreaking. He didn’t return for the second run.

Norway’s Sandbech kept up his nation’s dominance in the second heat, earning an 82.13 on his second run when he finished with a clean cab 1080. Four Norwegians will advance in the slopestyle final event.

Make sure to tune in to watch these 12 riders compete in the men’s slopestyle final on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET.

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