What is it?
Snowboarders doing tricks and jumps in a huge half-cylinder shaped pipe cut deep into the snow. Riders get pace from the slopes above the pipe before entering down one of its steep sides. The idea is then to move from one side of the cylinder to the other performing tricks on both the sidewalls.
Rules
Riders are marked on the difficulty of their tricks and form. On the FIS World Cup circuit there are five judges with one marking amplitude, two marking the rotation of the jumps and their take-off point and the final two marking for overall impression. All competitors have two runs and the highest scoring run counts.
History
The first primitive half-pipes were built in America in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Competitive half-pipe riding really began in the 1990s when the sport joined the World Cup circuit in 1994. Four years later the sport became an Olympic discipline for the first time in Nagano, Japan.
Random fact
The new generation of half-pipes are bigger, longer and steeper than ever before and are called super-pipes.
The lowdown
- Competition half-pipes are normally 3-4m deep and 100-110m long.
- The world's top half-pipe designer is Sweden's David Ny who helped design the pipe for the recent World Championships in Kreischberg, Austria.
- The half-pipe proved one of the most popular events at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, attracting over 30,000 fans.
- Half-pipes are often very icy and it's mandatory for competitors to wear helmets on the World Cup tour. The most common injuries are broken collar bones and damaged knees.
The one to beat
Lesley McKenna is Britain's top half-pipe rider and on her day the best rider on the half-pipe World Cup circuit. Renowned for her consistent finishes, this season she's added bigger air and more complicated jumps to her runs.
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