Anna Gasser became the first female snowboarder to land a triple cork in an Instagram video posted Tuesday, according to the International Ski Federation.
“It’s a trick with consequences, and you really have to put everything on the line if you want to succeed,” Gasser said, according to Red Bull, adding that she did it on her first attempt of the day. “You can easily overrotate on the third flip which makes landing safely impossible. Today it just felt right, and I am happy I ticked that one off my list – it doesn’t feel like such a big thing, but I guess it’s another milestone in women’s snowboarding!”
It’s not surprise that it’s the Austrian who broke the barrier. Gasser won big air’s Olympic debut in PyeongChang, off the world’s tallest ramp (49 meters), and has a history of performing first-ever tricks.
In 2013, she became the first woman to land a cab double cork 900. In 2017, she won the world title with the first backside double 1080 done in a female contest.
Gasser’s feat came just four years after Brit Katie Ormerod became the first woman to land a double in practice.
The triple cork was first linked to the Olympics going into Sochi 2014, when it was considered a must-have to contend for gold in men’s slopestyle’s debut.
Shockingly, American Sage Kotsenburg won with a stylish run that didn’t include a triple cork, while silver and bronze medalists Staale Sandbech and Mark McMorris each threw the triple.
A brief history of triple-cork breakthroughs:
2010: Norway’s Torstein Horgmo becomes the first man to land a triple cork in big air training.
2012: Canadian Mark McMorris lands the first triple cork in competition in a big air event.
2015: China’s Zhang Yiwei becomes the first man to land a triple cork in a halfpipe (in practice; it hasn’t been done in competition).
And now Gasser, who has become one of her nation’s biggest sports stars. She earned Austria’s Female Athlete of the Year a second straight time this year, more than doubling the points of the runner-up. She is the only male or female snowboarder to earn the annual honor in a country known for its Alpine skiers.
Gasser has won every major title in big air – Olympics, worlds, X Games Aspen — but lacks a slopestyle victory among those events. She was a gymnast until age 14. At 17, she decided she wanted to become a pro snowboarder. Five years later, she competed in slopestyle’s Olympic debut in Sochi.
NBC Olympic Research contributed to this report.
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