Olympic Snowboarding Men's Slopestyle Qualifying 2018 Live-Stream Schedule
The United States will try to continue its dominance in Winter Olympic snowboarding with its second consecutive win in the men's slopestyle competition, which begins on Friday.
The event, which was introduced in Sochi four years ago, was won by American Sage Kotsenburg in Russia, and there's a young contingent from the United States hoping to follow in his footsteps.
However, an American gold in slopestyle will only come after a near-perfect surge down the slopes since there's a long list of contenders for the first snowboarding medal to be handed out in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
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The slopestyle course features a number of obstacles and jumps similar to a skate park covered in snow, and the discipline is also contested in freestyle skiing.
Schedule
Event can be live-streamed on NBCOlympics.com
Men's slopestyle qualifying (Friday, 8 p.m. ET)
Pair of Canadians Vying for Country's 4th Snowboarding Gold
Canada has dominated a wide variety of Winter Olympic sports, but it hasn't been able to break through the deadlock the United States has had in snowboarding since the sport's Olympic debut in 1998.
Mark McMorris and Max Parrot have a chance to earn Canada's fourth gold in snowboarding and become the first two Canadians to medal in the same event in the sport.
McMorris, who won the 2014 bronze medal in Sochi, has been at the top of the discipline for quite some time, and a case could be made that he's the favorite to win based off his experience.
Parrot, who will also be a contender in big air, took fifth in slopestyle in Sochi and is seen as one of many snowboarders who could top the podium after Saturday's final.
If McMorris or Parrot capture gold in slopestyle, they'd join Ross Rebagliati, Jasey-Jay Anderson and Maelle Ricker as Canadian Olympic snowboarding champions.
Corning, Gerard Are Best American Hopes
Americans Chris Corning and Redmond Gerard will try to separate themselves from the group of medal contenders that includes the pair of Canadians and Norway's duo of Stale Sandbech and Marcus Kleveland during Friday's qualifying heats.
The 18-year-old Corning, who will also challenge for a medal in big air, has experienced a rapid rise to the top of the sport.
Corning broke on to the scene with a first-place finish in the FIS slopestyle standings in 2016, and he followed that up with a second-place mark in 2017.
Gerard has experienced the same amount of growth in the last few years, but at a more steady rate than Corning.
The 17-year-old is one of the youngest members of the United States Olympic team, and he could be the better contender for gold given his wealth of experience, as U.S. slopestyle coach Dave Reynolds noted, per Peggy Shinn of Team USA.
"He's been in a lot of big events even younger," said Dave Reynolds, U.S. snowboarding slopestyle coach. "He's so young but he's a veteran."
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Statistics obtained from Olympic.org and Team USA.
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