While it’s rare to see snow blades in this part of
the world these days the ultra-compact skis are bigger than ever in
Europe and Asia — prompting the International Olympic Committee to call
an emergency meeting in Karthoum last week to vote on whether to include
two new snow blade competitions in Sochi in 2014.
After three days of meetings, IOC members voted unanimously to add
two medal sports to the lineup; snowblade big air — which will take
place on a 30-metre gap jump — and a TV-friendly event called “The
Gauntlet.”
The snow bladers will each get three jumps in the big air
competition. The first jump has to be inverted, the second has to
include a spin move with at least 540 degrees of rotation and the third
can be a combination of grabs, spins, flips and hand gestures.
