{"id":2453645,"date":"2020-01-23T23:36:01","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T06:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/chris-cornings-strength-commitment-make-first-x-games-aspen-big-air-gold-more-attainable\/"},"modified":"2020-01-23T23:36:01","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T06:36:01","slug":"chris-cornings-strength-commitment-make-first-x-games-aspen-big-air-gold-more-attainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/chris-cornings-strength-commitment-make-first-x-games-aspen-big-air-gold-more-attainable\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Corning\u2019s strength, commitment make first X Games Aspen big air gold more attainable"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Chris Corning of Silverthorne eyes the in-run to the 15-story Visa Big Air scaffolding jump last month at SunTrust Park in Atlanta.<\/strong>
Mark Clavin \/ U.S. Ski & Snowboard<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

In all his years working with elite athletes, including NFL and NHL players, Nathan Henry had not experienced what he went through at X Games Aspen this time last year.<\/p>\n

Standing beside U.S. Snowboard coaches under the lights in the cold at Buttermilk Ski Area, the nerves overtook Henry. This was a situation where one of his athletes, snowboarder Chris Corning, was in a situation similar to a UFC fighter. Staring down the 300-foot-long run-in and 80-foot jump, to Henry, was like stepping foot in the Octagon, closing the cage door behind you and staring across the mat at a rabid opponent.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s another extreme sports analogy Henry compared it to, something with more of an Evel Knievel feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we are working on him, it\u2019s like a Formula One race car and launching it off this jump,\u201d said Henry, who\u2019s now the director of athlete development for Dallas Stars Elite Hockey. \u201cIt\u2019s watching and hoping he can land it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, last year\u2019s X Games big air final didn\u2019t turn out how Henry and Corning hoped. Corning aggravated one of the major injuries he and Henry worked doggedly the summer before to heal: a Lisfranc fracture to his left foot. It was the latest health hiccup in a young career for the 20-year-old Silverthorne resident who has worked through setbacks.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s where Henry comes in. In the summer of 2018, Corning drove several days a week, always arriving early, to work with Henry, then a coach for Landow Performance in Centennial. The coach soon learned Corning isn\u2019t just any other snowboarder. His attention to detail is obsessive. His drive to be his best is rabid. And his athleticism, despite the foot injury and a hobbled back and hip, was alarmingly elite.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I had him on the ladder,\u201d Henry said, \u201cI was like, \u2018Holy cow, this guy could have been a running back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Corning chose snowboarding, a smart move, evidenced by back-to-back FIS Crystal Globe season titles. That said, Corning has yet to win an X Games Aspen medal, a goal he\u2019ll work toward Friday at the men\u2019s snowboard big air elimination round.<\/p>\n

The X Games big air jam format is a beast \u2014 a 25-minute jump-till-you-drop endurance fest. With that in mind, Henry\u2019s main focus with Corning has been to build his \u201ctrunk,\u201d as Henry puts it, for the unnatural physics of loading up to huck a rotation and, perhaps more importantly, being able to stop a stuntman-like spin on a dime. The coach said he worked more on Corning\u2019s trunk than any athlete before.<\/p>\n

This past summer, Henry said, was about polishing the strength and muscular endurance he generated the summer prior.<\/p>\n

Last month, Henry soaked in a crowning moment for Corning: winning the Visa Big Air at the SunTrust Park baseball stadium in Atlanta. He did so by landing his four-inversion, five-rotation quad-cork 1800.<\/p>\n

Corning hopes for another this weekend in Aspen. Thursday\u2019s developments made it a bit tougher, as Corning failed to qualify through to the slopestyle final after tweaking his knee when landing awkwardly on a flat portion of the course.<\/p>\n

Whatever happens this weekend, Henry said even with all the strength and conditioning work, what sets Corning apart is between the ears.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t met anyone,\u201d Henry said, \u201cwho is more committed than he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Corning of Silverthorne eyes the in-run to the 15-story Visa Big Air scaffolding jump last month at SunTrust Park in Atlanta.Mark Clavin \/ U.S. Ski & Snowboard In all his years working with elite athletes, including NFL and NHL players, Nathan Henry had not experienced what he went through at X Games Aspen this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2453645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 19:16:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}