By the end of run two, things were looking very different. The biggest shock was Mark McMorris falling yet again, ending any hopes of a Big Air medal. Tor Bergriem had lost his early lead after a botched cab triple 14, and Billy Morgan was back in contention after sticking his backside triple on the second attempt.

“Max Parrot looked to knock Seb off his perch with a cab 1800, but couldn’t put it down”

Kyle Mack was already the holder of our unofficial ‘Best Grab’ award after that japan, but he surpassed even that with a frontside 1440 Bloody Dracula. That was enough to bump him up into the silver medal position.

Sitting pretty in gold, however, was Seb Toots, who has stuck a massive backside 1620 to add to his cab 16. Max Parrot looked to knock him off his perch with a cab 1800, but couldn’t put it down. Likewise CGK exited the comp after falling on both of his first two runs.

And so we came to round three, and those still in contention now had a pretty good idea of what it would take to get into the medals.

Red Gerard played it relatively safe with a front 14, which despite a score of only 68.25 still had him in the higher end of the table. Billy Morgan soon knocked him down a place, though, thanks to a big frontside triple 14. It was enough for the bronze medal position, but with so many riders still to drop he couldn’t afford to get comfy.

The sight of Chris Corning psyching himself up for his final run led many to correctly assume that he was about to start the quad party. Sure enough he launched it, but (as many suspected) the jump wasn’t quite big enough and he hit the deck. With a couple more feet of airtime, he may well have stuck it.

Tor went down too, leaving the early leader to wonder what might have been. Kyle Mack also fell as he attempted to leapfrog Seb Toots (who also didn’t land his third run) into the top spot, and Mark McMorris laid on a crowd-pleasing method to sign off from Pyeonchang.

“With so many recent victories going the way of his countrymen Mark and Max, it must have felt good for Seb to finally be back on top”

After Jonas Boesinger went down, only Max Parrot could shake up the medals – the question was, would he stomp a safety trick that would probably be enough for at least a bronze, or take a second attempt at going full 1800-tard to snatch the gold from his fellow Canuck?

In the end he went for the latter, and despite stomping it consistently in practice, he couldn’t put it down on the day. With only an already out of contention Carlos still to drop, Seb, Kyle and Billy could finally breathe again.

With so many recent victories going the way of his countrymen Mark and Max, it must have felt good for Seb to finally be back on top. Kyle Mack more than deserved his medal for having easily the most unique tricks of the day, and Billy Morgan proved that age is just a number by doing what the younger riders couldn’t.

That’s a wrap for snowboarding at Pyeongchang 2018. There were plenty of ups and downs, and we don’t expect the whole Olympic debate to quell any time soon, but the riders put on one hell of a show across the six freestyle events – and today’s men’s Big Air final was no exception.

Missing it already? You can recap the whole shebang right here.

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