Snowboarding is a winter Olympic sport. It consists in descending from a snowy mountain on a special board. At the same time, snowboarders wear special equipment. This sport can be classified as extreme, as it is associated with health risks.
Depending on the type of slope from which the descent is made, and the level of training of the athlete, several types of snowboard are distinguished: hard, boardercross, slalom, parallel slalom, giant slalom, parallel giant slalom, super giant, freeride and freestyle. Hard snowboarding consists of skiing off prepared slopes using additional equipment. When freeriding, descent is carried out from unprepared mountains, including very steep ones. Freestyle involves performing tricks while descending on a prepared track. The Olympic program includes giant slalom, halfpipe, parallel giant slalom, snowboard cross and board cross.
In parallel slalom, two or more athletes descend parallel tracks at the same time. The athlete who covers a given distance faster than others and observes all the established rules wins the competition.
If the standard slalom track is shorter and more winding, then the giant slalom differs in that it runs over a longer distance, which can reach 1 km, but at the same time the number of control gates on it decreases.
Athletes participating in a snowboard cross competition go down the track with many relief figures. Constantly increasing speed, they pass various shafts, jumps, turns and spines. First, the opponents must slide down the slope alone. Only after the qualifying round are they allowed to compete in speed with each other.
Halfpipe means "half pipe" in English. In such a concave design, competitions in this discipline are held. Athletes must move from wall to wall while performing tricks.
Snowboardcross competition is a simultaneous free descent of 4-6 people along a track, the length of which can be up to 2 km. Athletes must overcome obstacles in the form of combs, jump and make turns. You must first complete the qualifying round one at a time.
