Snowboarding
30 years of progression: Discover the milestones of snowboard slopestyle
Revisit the highs of Mark McMorris, Anna Gasser, and Travis Rice breaking ground for Snowboard Slopestyle. From a simple method air to quad corks, this is the evolution of competitive park riding.
Snowboard slopestyle will be contested for the fourth time at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games. This event has become one of the most anticipated events of the Games. But with Quadruple Corks (tricks that see riders leave the horizontal axis four times while spinning up to five and a half full rotations) a real possibility in Beijing, how did the discipline reach the level of technicality it sees today? And, as the riding reaches unfathomable heights, what separates Snowboard Slopestyle from Ski Aerials, or gymnastics for that matter? We looked back on iconic moments in Slopestyle's evolution and found a yin and yang story of style and technical progression -- join us as we sequence the genome of modern snowboarding's marquee event.
1992 -- Jeff Brushie's Giant Slalom method
In the early 90s, competitive freestyle snowboarders faced pressure from sponsors and event organizers to enter races, even though many of them wanted to focus on the halfpipe and filming video parts. Jeff Brushie, who led a wave of skate-inspired riders to usher in a new era of freestyle, showed the ski-centric establishment that snowboarding was ready to go in a new direction when he threw a method air in the middle of a Giant Slalom course. While Brushie's mid-course method predates Slopestyle competition by several years, it was a definitive moment that paved the way for them to exist at all.
1997 -- First Winter X Games
The introduction of the X Games brought mainstream awareness like snowboarding had never seen. The games, which included the first major broadcast of a Slopestyle competition, were televised to 198 countries in 21 languages, and attended by over 38,000 spectators. As important as the reach was the way the riders presented their sport. As Daniel Franck threw frontside rodeos, Jim Rippey aired over Rob Kingwill, and Barrett Christy won double gold in Slopestyle and Big Air, snowboarding was presented as a bona fide circus of rad. New audiences saw energy, freedom, and creativity, and couldn't help but fall in love with snowboarding.
2005 -- Introduction of the air bag
David Benedek at Red Bull Gap Session 2008
© Marcel Lämmerhirt/Red Bull Content Pool
When the first air bags debuted in 2005, snowboarding took quick notice. Inspired by the stunts of old Hollywood, air bags are inflatable pads designed to minimize the risk of learning new tricks. It wasn't long before elite snowboarders were experimenting with the bag-- in 2006, David Benedek's signature Gap Session project invited the world's best to test the potential of the new training tool. The project saw several firsts, including Benedek's groundbreaking frontside double cork 1260 (three and a half rotations, two of which are off-axis) and Travis Rice's double backflip late 180. All of snowboarding's freestyle disciplines -- Halfpipe, Big Air, and Slopestyle -- were hurdling towards double corked rotations becoming the norm, and air bags gave riders the safety margins needed to learn the tricks without fear of major consequence.
2007 -- That's It, That's All
Travis Rice, 2008 , That's It, That's All
© Tim Zimmerman/Red Bull Content Pool
In the mid-2000s, Slopestyle's biggest stars would split their time between competing and filming video parts. Guys like Eero Ettala, Pat Moore, and Andreas Wiig would learn new tricks while filming, and gradually work them into Slopestyle runs. Conversely, riders would look to videos to see what tricks they had to learn to stay at the front of the pack. In 2007, Travis Rice filmed an array of double cork variations for his groundbreaking film "That's It, That's All." The influence this film had over snowboarding at the time was enormous -- a new standard had been set. Not only did Travis put the tricks down on film, he brought them to Big Air events, proving to a hungry generation of riders that these tricks had a place in competitive snowboarding.
2011 -- Mark McMorris' backside triple cork 1440
Mark McMorris exploded into snowboarding's consciousness when he landed his first triple cork. He span four full rotations, while dipping off-axis three times. While people had gone upside down three times before (as early as the mid-90s), and a year earlier Torstein Horgmo had landed a frontside triple cork 1440, all of those airs had been more 'flips' than 'corks'. A flip is a rotation straight over the vertical axis, whereas a cork is an inverted spin that happens somewhere in between a rider's vertical and horizontal axes. It may seem like a trivial difference, but core snowboarders treasure the distinction.
2014 -- Slopestyle's Olympic debut in Sochi
As Slopestyle made its Olympic debut, triple corks were becoming the norm in competition runs. It was clear that podium discussions would centre around the tricks. But the question of whether Slopestyle would represent snowboarding as a style-driven sport ran rampant. Would the push towards flipping and spinning as fast as possible outshine the passion expressed by more raw, creative riding?
More on Mark McMorris
Sage Kotsenburg would come forward with a clear answer, winning while opting out of spinning triples altogether. Instead, built his run around creative tricks -- notably a layback tailpress with a backside 180 melon grab out in the rail section, a backside double cork 12 holy crail, and a never-been-done backside 1620 Japan. Canadian Mark McMorris landed on the podium in third place, winning his first-ever Olympic medal.
2015 -- Yuki Kadono's back-to-back 1620s
A triple cork 1620 is four and a half full rotations, and requires a rider to either take-off or land switch, in their unnatural stance. When Yuki Kadono did two of them in a row at the 2015 US Open, he did one of the most technically difficult tricks of the time and then seconds later did it again going backwards. His landing on the second, a switch backside spin, was absolutely beautiful. He stomped it with authority, riding away as if there was never any doubt that he would. Not only was this a first in terms of technicality, it was the strongest evidence yet that triple corks could be pulled with style.
Yuki Kadono-Life
© Burton / Red Bull Content Pool
2018 -- Anna Gasser's cab triple 1260
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Anna Gasser: First-ever Cab Triple 1260
Anna Gasser stomps the world's first-ever Cab Triple Underflip by a female snowboarder.
On November 13, 2018, Anna Gasser became the first woman to land a triple cork. Women's riding had been progressing at breakneck speed, with a number of riders working double corks, 900s, and 1080s into competition runs. Anna's cab triple 1260, however, stunned the snowboard world. It happened spontaneously -- "It was supposed to be windy so I went up with no expectations at all," she remembers, "but then it turned out to be a bluebird day, no wind and the big jump was in perfect shape." Anna stomped her trick first try, after tentatively trying it on an airbag only once before. She has tried it in competition since, but been unable to ride away clean.
Anna Gasser lands world's first female Cab Triple 1260
© Pally Learmond
2021 -- 1800 party at X Games Big Air
The Big Air event at X Games Aspen 2021 marked a paradigm shift. On the second run of the competition, Chris Corning threw a backside quadruple cork 1800, spinning five full rotations while going off-axis four times. While this wasn't the first quad cork, or even the first in competition (those honours went to Billy Morgan in 2015 and Marcus Kleveland in 2017), it set the tone for an event that would see stomped 1800s from five out of eight riders. Takeru Otsuka and Marcus Kleveland had notable style on their quads, making the tricks look better than anybody had previously, and Sven Thorgren managed an unconventional roast beef grab through a flat 1800 for arguably the most technically difficult trick of the night.
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