Courtesy FIS Snowboard
Call him Mister 1800, cause he did it again.
Halfway across the world in Cardrona, New Zealand, Chris Corning of Silverthorne won the season-opening International Ski & Snowboard Federation Snowboard World Cup event of the season on Saturday morning. The 19-year-old did so by landing his trademark, ground-breaking quad-cork 1800 only the second time in competition.
Corning, who now splits his time between Summit and Eagle counties, landed the trick for the first time effectively a year ago, on his 19th birthday at a World Cup big air event in Cardrona.
The goofy-footer set up the 1800 after first landing a flat-spin, front-side 1440 with a melon grab – a trick where he rotates toward his board’s front side off of the big air jump, rotating for four, full 360-degree rotations on a flat axis.
After stomping that trick flawlessly on his first jump, earning a score of 80.75 in the process, Corning set himself up nicely for his final two jumps. Per competition rules, riders use two of their three scores to combine for one total final score. And, in order for tricks to count, riders must perform one trick rotating to their board’s front side and one trick rotating to their board’s back side.
It all came together for Corning on that second jump, the two-time defending FIS World Cup Snowboard Park & Pipe season champion getting just enough torque on his inverted rotations to land the back-side quad-cork 1800. Corning is the only snowboarder to ever land the 1800 of this variety in World Cup competition, as the trick requires four inversions on his vertical axis complete with five, full 360-degree rotations on his horizontal axis.
“All the hard work is paying off,” Corning told reporters at the Winter Games New Zealand in Cardrona. “We all come here, everybody rode so good, and that means everybody worked hard over the summer time. For us to come here again and win again is super good. To have back to back two years in a row – and hopefully we are back next year. Maybe we can try a triple, who knows?”
Corning’s victory propels him into a familiar position – first place – as the World Cup season is officially underway. The next competition is set to be big air at Modena SkiPass in Italy on Nov. 2.
For Gerard, the runner-up finish was a super strong one for the 19-year-old 2018 Olympic slopestyle gold medalist after he competed in most only slopestyle events last season. Considering Gerard’s most recent big air competition was in New Zealand a year ago, his ability to stomp a triple-cork front-side 1440 with a tail grab on his first run down the course was impressive. The trick netted him a score of 87.00.
Gerard then earned a 74.25 on his third run with a stylish back-side triple-cork 1440 to backside shifty. Gerard’s total combined score of 161.25 put him behind Corning’s 176.25 and ahead of Finnish rider Kalle Jarvilehto (160.25).