Red Gerard Narrowly Misses Out On The Podium In Olympic Slopestyle Finals

Chris Corning competes during the men's snowboard slopestyle finals at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb, 7, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China.

Team USA’s Sean FitzSimons and Chris Corning also competed in the 12-man field, finishing sixth (65.11) and 12th (29.61), respectively. FitzSimons, who finished third in qualifiers, failed to land a successful run in all three rounds (29.48, 29.61, 26.61).

“I mean it’s a huge confidence boost to make the Olympics and then make the Olympic final,” the 2022 Laax Open champion said. “It’s definitely something I dreamed about doing. Definitely wish I could have put something down today. I’m stoked with being here and how I did.”

Aside from not landing in the Olympic finals Monday, the Hood River, Oregon, native believes that this will only push him to compete even harder and hopefully return to the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. 

“I think this is good for motivation to get back to it and start working harder to hopefully make something happen and have a better showing next time if I make it,” FitzSimons said.

Corning, who finished ninth in PyeongChang 2018 in slopestyle and fourth in big air, was looking to make the next step at his second Olympic Games, and he did. While he may not have made the podium, the 24-year-old rider competed in his first slopestyle Olympic final.

“I’m super happy; I didn’t make finals last time [in 2018], so this is tenfold better than what I did last time,” the Arvada, Colorado, native said. “I’m super stoked. I didn’t land a run for the first two runs, so to be able to put it down under pressure [in the third], I was super happy about because I was definitely struggling.”

The U.S. men’s team, including Dusty Henricksen, who missed the finals and finished 17th, will still have the chance to earn some Olympic hardware as they look to now compete in the big air competition in Beijing. Big air qualifiers commence next Monday at 12:30 a.m. ET.