Snowboarding 2018/Women's slopestyle

Women's slopestyle
General information
Sport	Snowboarding 2018
Date	12 February 2018
Competitors	26 athletes
Venue	Phoenix Snow Park
Previous medalists
Gold	Jamie Anderson
Silver	Enni Rukajarvi
Bronze	Jenny Jones
Conditions
Temperature	-9.6°C / 14.72°F
Length	690 metres
Height	163 metres
Forerunners
Forerunner	Won Young-kyo South Korea
Forerunner	Kim Gyeon-guk South Korea
Forerunner	Lee Joon-sik South Korea
Medalists
	Jamie Anderson
	Laurie Blouin
	Enni Rukajarvi

The women's slopestyle of Snowboarding 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 12 February 2018 in the Phoenix Snow Park. With 26 athletes competing, the event was won by Jamie Anderson from USA, with Laurie Blouin from Canada taking the silver medal and Enni Rukajarvi from Finland taking bronze.

Format

The competition exists out of two separate rounds. Each competitor performs twice in the qualification, with the athletes with the twelve best scores (in either run) advancing to the final. The athletes advancing to the final get three runs, with the best score in any run counting towards the final ranking. The competitor with the highest score in any run in the final is the winner.

Because of circumstances, an alternate format had to be applied. In this format, only a final would be conducted. In this final, each competitor would get two runs, with the best score out of the two counting towards the final ranking. The competitor with the highest score in either of the two runs is the winner.

Preview

Twenty-six athletes qualified for the event and with two out of three defending medalists, the start list showed plenty of promise. The favorite to win Olympic gold was Jamie Anderson, who could become the first female snowboarder to defend the Olympic title, after also winning the Olympic test event a year before. Enni Rukajarvi looked to equal her performance of the previous edition, when she won the silver medal, while Silje Norendal and Anna Gasser showed great performances in the four previous years. Outsiders included the 2015 and 2017 world champions (Reira Iwabuchi and Laurie Blouin, respectively), as well as the remaining medalists of the 2017 World Championships, Miyabi Onitsuka and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott.

Reira Iwabuchi led the three athletes born after 1 January 2000, with Zoi Sadowski Synnott and Hailey Langland being the only other athletes younger than 18 years old. The oldest participant Silvia Mittermuller also made her Olympic debut. Yuka Fujimori was the veteran of the field, competing in four editions since Torino 2006, while Cheryl Maas only missed out on Vancouver 2010. Sarka Pancochova was the only other athlete to have competed at Vancouver 2010.

Summary

Due to bad weather, the entire format of the event had changed. It was necessary to delay the event with more than a day, as well as scrapping the qualifications, instead, using a two-run final. Even though the weather conditions were still bad at the delayed date, with the current time constraints, the final had to be held.

The bad conditions of the weather showed in the results of the first run. Out of twenty-six riders, only five were able to remain on their board, the first being Jessika Jenson, only to be followed by Sina Candrian, Yuka Fujimori, and expected medal contenders Silje Norendal and Jamie Anderson, all five athletes scoring higher than 56 points. Silvia Mittermueller fell badly during her first run, but since she finished the course, she still received a score of 1.00, despite not being able to return for the second run.

This weather didn't change much during the second run, with once again only five riders receiving over 50 points. However, with good runs, Laurie Blouin and Enni Rukajarvi were able to overtake Norendal, with Hailey Langland climbing up to sixth place. Candrian (with a good first run), Sofya Fedorova, Fujimori, and Elena Koenz completed the top 10.

Final Results
Rank	Nat.	Name	Run 1	Run 2
1		Jamie Anderson	83.00	34.56
2		Laurie Blouin	49.16	76.33
3		Enni Rukajarvi	45.85	75.38
4		Silje Norendal	73.91	47.66
5		Jessika Jenson	72.26	41.11
6		Hailey Langland	41.26	71.80
7		Sina Candrian	66.35	39.80
8		Sofya Fedorova	27.53	65.73
9		Yuka Fujimori	63.73	48.51
10		Elena Koenz	17.28	59.00
11		Julia Marino	55.85	41.05
12		Asami Hirono	49.80	27.26
13		Zoi Sadowski Synnott	26.70	48.38
14		Reira Iwabuchi	48.33	31.06
15		Anna Gasser	42.05	46.56
16		Sarka Pancochova	43.46	39.18
17		Aimee Fuller	34.63	41.43
18		Isabel Derungs	39.66	31.98
19		Miyabi Onitsuka	33.25	39.55
20		Carla Somaini	36.71	23.08
21		Brooke Voigt	24.36	36.61
22		Spencer O'Brien	26.43	36.61
23		Cheryl Maas	31.71	35.30
24		Klaudia Medlova	26.16	34.00
25		Lucile Lefevre	28.35	17.31
26		Silvia Mittermueller	1.00	DNS

Results

Jamie Anderson defended her Olympic title, winning her second gold medal at the Olympic Games. Laurie Blouin won a silver medal at her Olympic debut, despite crashing in the last trainings before the competition, while Enni Rukajarvi won the bronze medal after winning a silver medal four years prior. Silje Norendal and Jessica Jenson finished just outside of the podium at their second Olympic appearance.

Result	Athlete	Nationality
	Jamie Anderson	United States
	Laurie Blouin	Canada
	Enni Rukajarvi	Finland
4	Silje Norendal	Norway
5	Jessika Jenson	United States
6	Hailey Langland	United States
7	Sina Candrian	Switzerland
8	Sofya Fedorova	Olympic Athletes from Russia
9	Yuka Fujimori	Japan
10	Elena Koenz	Switzerland
11	Julia Marino	United States
12	Asami Hirono	Japan
13	Zoi Sadowski Synnott	New Zealand
14	Reira Iwabuchi	Japan
15	Anna Gasser	Austria
16	Sarka Pancochova	Czech Republic
17	Aimee Fuller	Great Britain
18	Isabel Derungs	Switzerland
19	Miyabi Onitsuka	Japan
20	Carla Somaini	Switzerland
21	Brooke Voigt	Canada
22	Spencer O'Brien	Canada
23	Cheryl Maas	Netherlands
24	Klaudia Medlova	Slovakia
25	Lucile Lefevre	France
26	Silvia Mittermueller	Germany