The Olympics are in 14 months, and Sage Kotsenburg remains undecided about defending his slopestyle title.
“I’m definitely on the fence,” Kotsenburg said, according to a Salt Lake Tribune article published Friday, “but right now, I’m definitely more focused on filming.”
Kotsenburg has traveled the world since his surprise Sochi gold, taking his snowboard to film movies. He even declined an invitation to the 2014 Academy Awards to ride in Switzerland, according to the report.
It appears Kotsenburg has been non-committal about the Pyeongchang Winter Games since at least June, when a Snowboarder Magazine article quoted him saying he was going “back and forth” but leaning toward trying to make the U.S. team.
Kotsenburg, 23, struggled at the Winter X Games the last two seasons after his Sochi breakout. He finished fifth and 10th in slopestyle and seventh in big air, similar to his X Games results before his surprise Olympic title.
Kotsenburg is also coming off suffering a concussion at Fenway Park training for a big air event in February.
The first of five U.S. Olympic qualifying events for snowboard slopestyle is in February at Mammoth Mountain, Calif. The other four are expected to be contested next season.
If Olympic team selection is the same as 2014, Kotsenburg could skip the first qualifier and still make the team if he performs well next year. The U.S. had four men’s slopestyle snowboarders on its team for Sochi, when the event made its Olympic debut.
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