Aspen – Snowboarding fans aren’t likely to forget the U.S. sweep of the men’s halfpipe competition at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. But if the new members of the U.S. snowboardcross team have their way, everyone else will.
It looks like 2006 may very well be the year of the snowboardcross – the rock ’em, sock ’em roller derby on snow making its Olympic debut in Italy next month. After being overshadowed for years by the high-profile discipline of halfpipe, snowboardcross racers say their sport has what it takes to appeal to the masses.
And they offer the X Games as evidence.
“I definitely think it’s peaking right now,” said Shawn Palmer, the 37-year-old snowboarding pioneer and six-time X Games gold medalist credited by some with inventing an informal version of the snowboard derby. “It’s a big deal that it’s going to the Olympics. It’s definitely going to be a benefit for the sport.”
The sport – one of the most popular and visually compelling at these games – is described as a fusion between motocross and downhill racing. Held on a snow-covered course stretching some 2,000 feet and riddled with tabletop jumps, banked turns, rolling bumps and gap jumps, the secret to the sport’s success lies in its simplicity – and its chaos. Four to six riders careen down the course, jostling for an advantage as they make their way to the finish line.
Crashes are common, body armor is standard and speed is mandatory. In many ways, it’s the ultimate American snow sport.
“I think what we’re bringing into the Olympics this year with the addition of snowboardcross is the opportunity to put something out there especially for the American public where everyone gets it,” said Seth Wescott, the reigning snowboardcross world champion from Farmington, Maine. “With halfpipe, the average person watching it isn’t necessarily going to understand the intricacies of the tricks, the style factors and all that kind of stuff.
“But here’s something – especially for our nation that loves NASCAR, loves racing, loves motorsports – where they’re just going to see live, head-to- head racing, and I think it’s going to be an exciting show for them.”
Wescott, who finished second Saturday to American teammate Nate Holland of Olympic Valley, Calif., considers this season a sort of second coming of snowboardcross. The sport suffered a bit of an identity crisis in 2002, when the Swatch Boardercross Tour – the discipline’s premier forum at the time – and the International Snowboarding Federation tour folded. The International Ski Federation (FIS) has since offered the only major competitive events outside of the X Games, and Wescott thinks the sport has been set back as a result.
“To have both those tours go down in the same year was really a huge hit for us,” Wescott said. “Working through the FIS as we have for the past few years, it’s back at a certain level. We go out and race, but we really don’t feel like it’s being highlighted as well as it used to on the other tours.
“So for us to have X Games is a major thing every year, to have courses that are on a higher level, up to the standard of what they used to be. It’s a highlight sport here, and two weeks from now we have the chance to take it on the world stage at the Olympics.”
The finish area at a snowboardcross race is typically brimming with the energy of a mosh pit, but Saturday there was a sense of anticipation as snowboardcross (Snowboarder X here) steams headlong into its anticipated destiny as the hottest sport on snow. Lindsey Jacobellis, the current women’s world champion and lone American female competing in Turin, bowed out with a knee strain and opened the door to Maelle Ricker of Canada to win her first X Games gold. But three of the six riders in the all-Olympic men’s finals were Americans.
“I’m fired up and ready to rock this world,” Holland said after his first Snowboarder X gold medal. “I’m kind of bummed we didn’t sweep the podium, but our team is really strong. It’s a good stage to set right as I’m going into Torino.”
Scott Willoughby can be reached at 303-820-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com.
