The men’s snowboard slopestyle final is set up to be a clash of superpowers, as Canada and Norway — the two strongest countries in this event — both qualified their full roster of four riders.
But there is one young American who could upset the balance of power.
Saturday’s qualifying round was divided into two heats. In order to advance to the final, riders needed to finish top six in their heat.
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The first heat was dominated by Norway, as three of the top six riders hailed from the Scandinavian country.
The highest-scoring run of that heat was put down by Marcus Kleveland, who landed a cab 1260 and a backside 1440 on the final two jumps. Kleveland is the back-to-back X Games slopestyle champion and one of the top favorites for gold in both slopestyle and big air.
