Halfpipe snowboarding has been the cool kid of U.S. Olympic sports since it was inaugurated in 1998. It was novel compared to events like alpine skiing, and we had perpetual winner Shaun White to root for. But this year, now that freeskiing is on the big stage, skiers, with their bigger amplitude, more-complicated grabs, and tougher-looking switch tricks, might steal the show from snowboarders.
It’s hard to resist weighing skiing against snowboarding, given that both breeds of athletes compete in the same venue, but a direct comparison is kind of unfair. Even on the same halfpipe, the way riders approach the course, because of … More