Snowboarding
Billy Morgan Tells How He Broke Quad Cork Barrier
Go behind the scenes with the British snowboarder as he talks us through his game-changing trick.
Earlier this month, British snowboarder Billy Morgan became the first person to pull off the sport's most difficult tricks: the Backside Quadruple Cork 1800°.
Just days away from having major knee surgery (and suffering from a bit of a cold), Morgan rolled into the jump at the Italian ski resort of Livigno and pulled four off-axis flips and five full rotations — otherwise known as the elusive Backside Quadruple Cork 1800°.
In the exclusive behind-the-scenes video and interview below, Morgan tells us the full story behind his incredible world first.
3 min
Billy Morgan on his Backside Quad Cork 1800
The British snowboarder reveals how he pulled off his iconic, world-first trick.
Ever since I started doing triples and being open at the end of them, people have said to me, "You could have done a quad." But I didn’t realistically start thinking about it until four or five months ago. It had just seemed ridiculous for so long, but coming toward the end of the season, and with the fact that I was going in to have my ACL reconstructed, I thought I might as well just give it a go.
Our last chance was to come over to Livigno.
I knew what I had to do. It was basically just the same as the triple — you’ve just got to hold on for longer and you obviously need more airtime. So more than working out how to do the trick right, it was more about finding the right jump.
With my operation date coming up fast, our last chance was to go to Livigno in Italy and try to reshape the jump that they had there already. And it was perfect!
Watch the video of the jump below
1 min
Billy Morgan's World First Backside Quadruple Cork
Watch Billy Morgan's incredible world-first Backside Quadruple Cork.
There was no real training for the trick. I had been hoping to go to a diving board and throw myself over four times just to see what it would feel like. But you need so much airtime — my coach had worked out that I needed to be in the air for 2.8 seconds — to get the feeling that it’s just kind of impossible. So I just had to do it in the end.
My takeoff was good and in the air, I was counting the throbs in my head — I hear a kind of "woompf, woompf, woompf, woompf" when I go upside down — but the landing wasn’t perfect. I should have gone back up and done it again.
The relief of doing it was a massive weight off my mind.
But I was so stoked. After all the thinking about it, the relief of actually doing it was a massive weight off my mind and I could think, "I’ve done it now." Now that it’s over, I’m taking a month off, then I'll get really healthy, get into the gym, do my rehab from my operation and take up cycling and table tennis. I do get a bit bored in the gym, so I’m going to try and learn to love it.
Rolling in for a practice jump
© Pally Learmond
People keep asking me whether this is now the limit with this type of trick. No way! There’s no reason why people can’t spin around more. Do it off a cliff! As long as you can get the airtime, people will always be out to push boundaries. And I'll be there cheering them on — I love watching people do rad stuff on a snowboard!
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