The flips and tricks that snowboarders perform can seem nearly impossible, but athletes just keep finding ways to push the boundaries of their sport. The triple cork trick has been a regular feature in slopestyle for some time — but at the 2022 Winter Olympics, it might just be a deciding factor in the men’s halfpipe final.
To rack up points, the best snowboarders in the world are upping the ante with this truly wild skill. The triple cork requires a snowboarder to flip three times in the air while rotating diagonally. The “triple” part refers to the number of off-axis flips; the skill’s name is followed by a number that indicates the number of degrees an athlete rotated in the air. A triple cork 1080, for instance, would involve three flips and three rotations, while a 1440 would have a whopping four rotations.
Until recently, the triple cork was exclusively performed in slopestyle — the course, with large jumps built in, is more conducive to performing a trick with this many flips and rotations than the curved walls of the halfpipe. Japanese snowboarder Ayumu Hirano became the first to land a triple cork in a halfpipe competition in December 2021, following it up with a triple cork 1440 at the X Games in January. You can see his historic trick above.
So who could potentially land the first triple cork in Olympic halfpipe history? Hirano is all but certain to attempt to repeat it, along with most of his teammates. Australia’s Scotty James, who edged out Harano at the X Games to take gold, has also been working on the trick. It’s possible that American Shaun White, who briefly tried the trick some years ago, could take a run at it, too. Intriguingly, as USA Today notes, a halfpipe run with the triple cork has yet to win a gold medal. Could one of these athletes change that in Beijing? You’ll have to tune in to the men’s halfpipe final, scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 10, to find out.