Olympic Snowboarding Slopestyle 2018 Live Stream Schedule for Saturday

The first real competition day of the 2018 Winter Olympics gets underway in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on Saturday, and the men's and ladies' slopestyle events will attract a large portion of the crowd's attention.

The men's slopestyle final runs will begin at 8 p.m. ET at Phoenix Snow Park, with three runs scheduled to determine who will be crowned king of one of the Games' more coveted early medal events.

The ladies' slopestyle doesn't get underway until 11:30 p.m. ET, when 27 entries—including four each from the United States, Japan and Switzerland—will begin their quests for a podium place before Sunday's final.

Judges will assess boarders on the smoothness of their runs, but those willing to take risks and entertain on a course detailed with big jumps and rails will be rewarded.

Read on for a preview of Saturday's snowboarding showcase, complete with start times.

Saturday Snowboard Slopestyle Times

Men's Slopestyle (Finals)

8 p.m. ET/1 a.m. GMT (Sunday, February 11)

Women's Slopestyle (Qualifying)

11:30 p.m. ET/4:30 a.m. GMT (Sunday, February 11)

Preview

The men's slopestyle will climax at Phoenix Snow Park on Saturday, when the remaining finalists from the 38-strong starting field will look to combine composure and jumps to take home the gold.

Phoenix Park's course starts with rails and walls before descending into three big jumps, with difficulty of tricks and variety are not only factored in, but also their ability to "progress" and link tricks together.

Six-time Winter X Games medallist Sebastien Toutant, representing Canada, sent out a battle cry ahead of his qualifying run on Friday:

Coming into the men's qualifiers, Norway's Marcus Kleveland will also be seen as a contender after topping the podium at the X Games in Aspen, Colorado, in January:

The ladies' field features three Canadians, and Sofya Fedorova stands as the Olympic Athletes from Russia's sole representative.

One of those who will be absent is Great Britain's Katie Ormerod, who was ruled out of the Games on Thursday after injuring her heel:

Ormerod's withdrawal means Aimee Fuller is the only British snowboarder taking part in the slopestyle. Team GB had the trio of Billy Morgan, Rowan Coultas and Jamie Nicholls who took part in the men's qualifiers.

Jamie Anderson won gold for the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics, taking the first to be offered in slopestyle, and she spoke to the Washington Post's Jerry Brewer regarding her rise to the top:

"What helped me push forward was getting out of my ego and realizing, no matter what I do, there's always going to be younger girls coming up, and that's just the nature of life. Embrace it. And even if I'm not always going to be the best, at least I'm doing my personal best and am inspired by those girls. Changing my mind and not being so stuck in 'I suck. They're great.' Just realizing everyone is doing their best and that's all we can do is what helped me get to the right place."

She will be one of four snowboarders representing the United States in the ladies' qualifiers alongside Hailey Langland, Jessika Jenson and Julia Marino.

The field for the ladies' run looks to be wide open, but a healthy Anderson will count herself among the favourites after going the distance in Sochi, Russia, four years ago.