Open snowboard championships popularity.

Added: 12/21/2005

Snowboarding sport is rather young but very widespread and popular all over the world. Officially the beginning of its history traces to not far away 1960s and such vivid personality as Jay Barton. Today snowboarding has been already in the list of Olympic sports. The snowboarding competition program can be divided into 2 events: slalom and ?half-pipe? riding.

Snowboarding is comparatively young sport. It was invented in 1960, when American slalomist Jay Barton demonstrated descending on his own hand-made ski board (snowboard) which immediately interested ski manufacturers. There was founded the Professional International Federation. And first competitions with entitling took place. But the Technical Committee was established only in 1995 in the International Federation of Sports. In 1996 the first open snowboard championships were held.

In the snowboard program there are two events ? two disciplines for competition: one of them is kept in the ordinary snow hill, and it includes such events as slalom and slalom-giant; another kind of competition needs special construction ? a pipe (gutter), resembling cut along cylinder. That is why it is called ?half-pipe?. In the ?half-pipe? the sportsman slides down the peculiar sinusoid from one cut of the ?half-pipe? to another one, demonstrating jumps and overturns in their edges. The judges assess the complexity and technique of sportsman?s jumps. The program of XVIII Olympiad in Nagano (1998) included ?half-pipe?, and slalom-giant. The wave of open snowboard championships covered the sports world very intensively.

It is obvious that snowboarding history contains much impact from the surfing, skiing, to say nothing about skateboarding. The beginning of snowboard era (someone can even guess 1920s) can be connected with fashion among children at the moment to construct from the barrel stave and drive them down the snowy hills. Children games and competitions predetermined open snowboard championships.

The big role in snowboarding development belongs to Vermont, and its life story that resembles a fairy-tale about, how one carpenter from that place designed his snowboards line and aimed to spread them all over the world. And the story has a happy end - he really succeed. Vermont is also known as the first place that got experience of Snowboard Park with ?magic mountains?, that rendered possible open snowboard championships. Today one of the most famous and suitable places for such events is Stratton Mountain Resort.

The popularity of snowboard sport grows steadily both in its professional and amateur variants; European open snowboard championship and the us open snowboard championship are not the only competitions for snowboarders. Today the snowboarding even entered the Olympics ?team? and experienced the mainstream rise.

The sport market stimulated the manufacturing market that responded right away on all demands. The most important are surely connected with equipment that is half guarantee for success in any sport. Snowboard, fasteners and boots are chosen depending on riding style. For impetuous sliding down the hills with quick and technical turns it is necessary the set of stiff equipments: narrow board, mountain-ski boots. For those who prefer spring-boards and inflation devices planning to subdue everyone with difficult tricks it is recommended to equip with soft fasteners.

Rate this article:

Bad

Good

Article comments:

No comments for this article yet. Post your comment now!

Return to top of the page