Second Time Around for Snowboarding

Nicola Thost shows gold-medal form in the halfpipe at the 1998 Games in Nagano.

In only its second outing as an Olympic medal sport, snowboarding offers another chance at glory for some competitors and a first run at the ultimate world stage for others. It is Germany's women who are entering the Salt Lake Winter Games as veterans of the podium, though there are serious medal hopefuls among the men as well.

Basics
First, a brief introduction to the sport for the uninitiated. Snowboarders take to the slopes on a single wide board and with a free-spirited attitude. The origins of the sport are hard to pinpoint, but the introduction of the "snurfer," a device named for snow and surfer, in the 1960s is widely viewed as an early milestone. Snowboarding gained in popularity throughout the 1970s and seemed to hit the mainstream in the 1980s. The sport has come a long way from the days when many ski resorts banned snowboarders from slopes and continues to attract men and women of all ages. The growth of snowboarding as a sport outstrips downhill skiing, seeing eight times the number of new participants as skiing in the US, for example. Snowboarding debuted as an Olympic medal sport in 1998.

Athletes compete internationally on two world cup circuits, the International Ski Federation (FIS) and the International Snowboarding Federation (ISF). Competitive snowboarding is divided into two categories - freestyle and alpine. One discipline from each category will be on the program at this year's games - halfpipe and parallel giant slalom. Halfpipe is named for the half-cylinder shaped course. Riders speed down the high vertical wall on one side and up and over the wall on the other side, going airborne to perform tricks with names like "air to fakie" and "blindside Haaken flip." Their runs are judged for amplitude, rotations, straight airs (no rotations), and overall impression with scores of .1 to 10. Parallel giant slalom consists of successive heats of head-to-head races on parallel courses. It replaces the giant slalom competition from the 1998 games and is considered more thrilling for spectators.

The stereotype of snowboarders as the free-styling rebels of the slopes doesn't always mesh with the image of a disciplined Olympic athlete. But Germany's Nicola Thost sees things differently. She told Sport1.de last year: "I am a person first and then a snowboarder. Perhaps one has to also differentiate between professional snowboarders and freelance athletes. As a snowboard professional, I am a career athlete just like athletes in other sports; and for an athlete, the Olympics are the greatest. The event in itself is incredibly fantastic, regardless of whether one is actively participating or just spectating."

But alpine racer Marcus Ebner is disappointed with what he sees as snowboarding's low profile at the games. Only one of the four alpine disciplines is on the scheudule this year, with one more, boardercross, to be added in 2006. "Given the significance of snowboarding among the youth, that isn't justified," Ebner told Die Welt last year.

Taking Their Chances
After forced down time due to injuries in the two previous seasons, and an unfortunate arm fracture at the start of the 2001/2002 season, Thost has only two recent competitions under her belt. But one of those is a second-place finish in Kreischberg, Austria, on Jan. 25. Thost, 24, says her biggest competitor in Utah will be herself. FIS World Cup leader Nici Pederzolli of Italy and Kelly Clarke of the US may see it differently. And Thost's teammate, Sabine Wehr-Hasler, 34, has to be stoked with her 2nd place spot in the overall rankings.

On the parallel giant slalom team it is Heidi Renoth who has tasted Olympic success, winning a silver medal in Nagano in the giant slalom, a version of alpine snowboarding that won't be part of these games. She is joined by teammate Katharina Himmler.

For their part, the German men are building up momentum for the Park City races. Racer Mathias Behounek, 26, of Rosenheim was pleased with his second place finish behind Slovenian Dejan Kosir in the World Cup parallel giant slalom in Bad Gastein, Austria, Jan 29. Behounek's Olympic teammate Ebner, 31, came in 6th. The World Champion in the giant slalom in 1999, Ebner missed the 1998 games because of an injury, and this may be his first and last shot at an Olympic medal.

In the Halfpipe, Jan Michaelis is carrying hopes for a medal, along with colleagues Xaver Hoffmann, 27, and Daniel Tyrkas. With his first place finish in the World Cup competition in Kreischberg, Austria, Jan. 25, Michaelis took over the lead in World Cup rankings and was bolstered for Utah. "It was important for me to achieve a good result in the last competition before the Olympic games; it gives me energy for this important contest," the 24-year-old told Funsportnews.de. The Kreischberg result was also crucial for Tyrkas, 26. His 4th-place finish earned him the final birth on the German Olympic team.

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