Olympic Snowboarding Women's Big Air Final 2022 TV Schedule, Live Stream, Pick
On Sunday night, 30 snowboarders representing 21 nations attempted to qualify for the 12-woman final in big air at the Beijing Olympics.
Held at Big Air Shougang, the world's first permanent big air venue that viewers will recognize from the ski big air events, the qualifier delivered more than a few surprises.
The first was that Team USA's Julia Marino, who took silver in the women's snowboard slopestyle final on Feb. 6, did not start in the big air qualifier. She had posted photos from big air practice on Instagram two days before the qualifier, but U.S. Ski & Snowboard confirmed Sunday the 24-year-old did not start due to a fall in practice and was "prioritizing her health."
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The other big surprise on Sunday involved Marino's U.S. teammate, Jamie Anderson.
At the Pyeongchang Games in 2018, when snowboard big air made its debut as an Olympic discipline, Austria's Anna Gasser took gold, followed by Anderson in silver and New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott in bronze.
Fast-forward four years later, and two of those athletes are odds-on favorites to make the podium...but not Anderson.
After finishing ninth in the women's snowboard slopestyle final on Feb. 6, the 31-year-old failed to qualify for the big air final on Sunday. She fell on her first two runs attempting a cab (switch frontside) double underflip weddle grab. She landed her third and final run, earning a score of 89.75 with her frontside double 1080 weddle, but it wasn't enough to land her in the top 12. She finished 15th.
Sadowski-Synnott was the top qualifier with a combined score (riders' two best runs, which must be different tricks) of 176.50, while Japan's Kokomo Murase and Reira Iwabuchi were Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.
Let's take a look at the full field for the women's big air final, as well as tune-in info, and make a pick for the contest.
Women's Snowboard Big Air Qualifying Results
1. Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, New Zealand
2. Kokomo Murase, Japan
3. Reira Iwabuchi, Japan
4. Laurie Blouin, Canada
5. Miyabi Onitsuka, Japan
6. Anna Gasser, Austria
7. Tess Coady, Australia
8. Annika Morgan, Germany
9. Rong Ge, China
10. Jasmine Baird, Canada
11. Melissa Peperkamp, Netherlands
12. Hailey Langland, United States
Women's Snowboard Big Air Odds
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, New Zealand +125
Anna Gasser, Austria +380
Reira Iwabuchi, Japan +550
Miyabi Onitsuka, Japan +550
Women's Snowboard Big Air Schedule
Date: Monday, Feb. 14
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Live Stream: Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Sadowski-Synnott's winning ways continue.
Coming off a slopestyle gold medal on Feb. 6, the Kiwi was the top qualifier in women's big air, where she's favored to secure her second gold medal of these Games.
The 20-year-old had the highest scored trick of the qualifier, a frontside double 1080 melon grab (three full rotations and two off-axis flips), on her third run for 91 points.
It was the only trick that scored in the 90s, and she combined it with her backside 1080 weddle from her first run for 85.50 points.
Neither of the other top two qualifiers needed a double to land in the first three positions of the start list. Murase's two best tricks were a backside 1080 weddle (85 points) and a frontside 1080 melon (86 points).
Iwabuchi did attempt a frontside double 1080 weddle on her third run after she had already amassed a solid combined score of 158.50 with a backside 1080 weddle on Run 1 (85 points) and frontside double underflip on Run 2 (75.50 points).
In the final, the double 1080 will likely be one of the two tricks all three of the riders who land on the podium will need. They can make it more difficult by performing it cab (switch frontside), backside or switch backside, as well as by adding different grabs.
But the top women in the field—Sadowski-Synnott, Onitsuka, Gasser, Murase—can land a 1260, the next frontier for women's slopestyle and big air.
Onitsuka became the first woman to land a cab double 1260 in competition at X Games Aspen in January 2020.
Sadowski-Synnott can likely do it as a double; she attempted a backside double 1260 melon at the big air world championships final in March 2021, though she couldn't land it.
Then there's Gasser, who landed the first-ever triple cork by a woman in practice in 2018. She hasn't yet been able to put it down in competition, but Monday could be the day.
Get ready for a ton of progression in women's snowboarding in the Beijing 2022 big air final.
Predictions: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (gold), Miyabi Onitsuka (silver), Anna Gasser (bronze)
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
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