Slopestyle World Cup season set to open at Calgary Snow Rodeo

Training day 2 at the Calgary Snow Rodeo presented by Swatch and Toyota, at WinSport Canada Olympic Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, December 2021. Image credit: / Buchholz / FIS Snowboard

Thursday, December 30, 2021

The 2021/22 FIS Snowboard slopestyle World Cup is finally ready to get underway with a big week of action in Calgary at the Snow Rodeo presented by Swatch and Toyota. Men’s qualifications in Calgary are going down on Wednesday, with women’s qualifications and men’s semifinals on Friday, and finals taking place in a very special New Year’s Day programme on Saturday.

Earlier this week we took an in-depth look at who and what to watch out for throughout this season’s slopestyle World Cup, and you can check that out HERE.

Rest assured, names like Reira Iwabuchi (JPN), Laurie Blouin (CAN), Annika Morgan (GER) and Katie Ormerod (GBR) will be on hand here in Calgary representing for the women, while the stacked men’s field will see the likes of Mark McMorris and Sebastien Toutant (CAN), Mons Roisland (NOR), Takeru Otsuka (JPN), Leon Vockensperger (GER), Chris Corning (USA) and a whole slew of others dropping in on the Stomping Grounds’ Charles Beckinsale-designed-and-built course here in Calgary this week.

This week’s competition in Calgary will be the second iteration of the Snow Rodeo after the inaugural edition of the event back in the 2019/20 season, and will be just the fourth snowboard slopestyle World Cup ever to hit the slopes at Calgary’s WinSport Canada Olympic Park in FIS Snowboard history.

The host Canadians have some solid history in Calgary, with Mark McMorris claiming the first World Cup victory of his storied career here way back in the 2009/2010 season, Laurie Blouin claiming her first World Cup win here in 2019/20, Liam Brearley earning his first World Cup podium here in that same year, and Brooke Voigt owning two second-place finishes at the venue.

Competition at this year’s Snow Rodeo begins on Thursday with the men’s qualifications, where heat 1 will be dropping in at 10:00 MT, followed by heat 2 at 12:50. The top three riders from each heat will proceed straight through to Saturday’s finals, while the riders placed 4-9 in each heat will qualify for semifinals.

Friday will see women’s qualifications beginning at 9:40, with the top four riders from each heat going through to finals, followed by men’s semifinals at 11:40. The best four riders from men’s semifinals will join the top six in Saturday’s finals.

Women’s and men’s finals on New Year’s Day will begin at 10:00, and all competition phases in Calgary this week will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel (links below).

Along with the standard prize money up for grabs this week, Snow Rodeo sponsors Toyota and Swatch have ponied up some extra incentives - $16,000 worth, to be exact - for the best tricks in each phase of competition through the next three days.

This means that the best scoring women’s and men’s tricks on both the Toyota Channel Gap Rail, and on the Swatch Transition Jump each day will earn that rider an extra $1000 - except on finals day, when that amount bumps up to $1500. On top of THAT, the top eight scoring women’s and men’s tricks from qualifications will also be entered in a fan vote, with the winner’s of that taking home a cool $500 apiece.

Despite the bone-chilling cold in Calgary brought on by the polar vortex currently sitting over Western Canada, the vibe is high in and around the 2021 Snow Rodeo as riders from around the world battle to lock down their spots for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, now just over four weeks away.

Any way you slice it, it’s shaping up to be an exciting few days of World Cup slopestyle action here at the Snow Rodeo presented by Swatch and Toyota in Calgary.

WHERE TO WATCH FINALS LIVE:

Eurosport 1, Eurosport Player (including qualifications and semifinals), Eurosport 1 Asia, ORF Sport+, CBC Sports Streaming (including qualifications and semifinals), CT SPORT, Viaplay, V Sport+, L’Equipe, Arena, JSports1, JOJ TV, SRF Play, skiandsnowboard.liv, Peacock

QUICK LINKS

FIS SNOWBOARD YOUTUBE LIVESTREAMS:

• Men’s heat 1

• Men’s heat 2

• Women’s qualifications

• Men’s semifinals

• Finals (with geo restrictions)

OTHER LINKS:

• Calgary Snow Rodeo FIS data page (start lists, livescoring, results)

• Slopestyle World Cup 2021/22 season preview

• Photos

• Highlights and interviews