Opinion: The Olympic Slopestyle Women Deserve Better

For those of you who are unsure of what I’m talking about, here’s what happened. After heavy snowfall in Livigno, the women’s slopestyle final was rescheduled to a day later, merely hours after the men’s competition. The course was slow. It was slow for most of the day for the men, who competed just a couple of hours earlier, and we saw how they struggled to land jumps. Mons Roisland. Mark McMorris. Marcus Kleveland. Some of the best riders alive had trouble battling the conditions.

As we know, courses rarely improve as the day goes on. The women were left struggling to build enough speed to complete their runs. Several riders from Japan and Korea were taping their pants to reduce wind drag, similarly to what halfpipe riders did at the Laax Open.

Others were tucking when approaching the jump line. We can say with near certainty that some riders’ choice of rail tricks was impacted because of the need to maintain speed toward the bottom of the course.

And of course, we saw the big bails, specifically on the third and final jump. Jess Perlmutter crashed hard on her final run, keeping her from putting down a unique run that could have possibly put her in a podium position. Annika Morgan needed to stomp one last run to give herself some wiggle room on the podium. She fell on a backside melon attempt at the fifth jump and was bumped off in the last run.

Australian Ally Hickman put down a phenomenal third run, only to come up short on the final jump. Canada’s Juliette Pelchat finished similarly, after butt-checking on the knuckle of jump three in her final run. Laurie Blouin stomped on the knuckle in her own final run, and at 29 years old, I just know her knees will be begging her for forgiveness come Thursday.

The bottom line is that the most difficult part of the entire course was the final two jumps. Yet the judges did not adjust their expectations accordingly. They put more stock in the rails than the jumps. They were inconsistent on what tricks in the jump section they rewarded. They scored Mari Fukada's run that had two 720s and a switch 1260 in it higher than Kokomo Murase's, which had a Cab 900, a 1260, and a 1080. They scored it higher than Zoi Sadowski-Synnott's run that included a switch backside 900 and back-to-back 1080s.

That math ain't mathin'. It’s almost as if the judges decided the way things should go when they woke up that morning and stuck to their guns.

This is not a knock on Mari Fukada. She put down the second run she needed after falling on her first. Was it worthy of an 85.7? I’m not sure I agree with that. But we can certainly agree that a switch backside 1260 mute on her first jump, scoring a perfect 10, is misplaced. Particularly when we know the rider who finished in third, Kokomo Murase, has put down a backside 1620 in competition. Maybe in the conditions at hand, a case could be made for a 1440 scoring a perfect 10. A 1260, though? It's really hard to agree with that.

Look, I hate, absolutelyhate, to be the writer who comes on here and harps on the judges, FIS, and on the IOC. That's low-hanging fruit. At this point, there’s nothing more core in snowboarding than riders being mistreated in a landmark contest. But, boy, oh boy, did that happen yet again.

I don't know if the same judges who were hired for the women’s event worked the men’s contest just hours before. If they did, that might explain why Ollie Martin was egregiously underscored as well. If they did not, that only further proves that widespread, systemic change is needed if we ever want to get this right.

I am not here to place blame for blame’s sake. I’m not calling for any judges to be fired or lose the privilege to ever judge again. If the judges don’t have the right tools to do their job to the best of their ability, why not? Let’s siphon some money from whatever part of the budget pays for Snoop Dogg, settle for Busta Rhymes, and get the correct riders the correct medals. (This line is satire, but seriously, pay your judges.)

If the rumors that are floating around are true that Olympic judges get just $100 a day, well, I have a pretty good feeling we can start there! I used to make more money umpiring a Little League baseball doubleheader back in 2014.

I don’t know, man. Cue the Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad meme.  

They can’t keep getting away with this.