Snowboarders Criticize Decision to Hold Slopestyle Final Despite Dangerous Wind Conditions

Competitors were displeased with the decision to hold the event as planned despite the wind.

The women's slopestyle competition at the 2018 PyeongChang Games took place as planned on Monday despite dangerous winds—to the displeasure of several competitors. 

American Jamie Anderson won the gold medal in slopestyle for the second consecutive Olympics. But Monday's event was marred by blustery conditions on the course. 

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reported several competitors were "livid" that the slopestyle contest was held despite the wind. 

"It's a s---show," Cheryl Maas of the Netherlands said, according to Passan. 

“So terrible. They shouldn’t have run it,” Czech Republic’s Sarka Panocochova said, according to the Denver Post. “I mean we worked so hard to get here. This is the Olympics. Come on guys. You have more days to have this contest.”

Nearly every woman in the field crashed during their runs. 

UPDATE pic.twitter.com/36IWmquHaT

— Will Graves (@WillGravesAP) February 12, 2018

Multiple riders elected to skip the second jump during their runs, likely to avoid risking a fall because of the wind. Several competitors wiped out on the second jump. 

Canada's Spencer O'Brien on slopestyle conditions: "It's such a shame when organizers don't take rider safety or our opinions into consideration. We were not asked once if it was safe to ride today. That's something with our sport that needs to change."

— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) February 12, 2018

New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski Synnott may have sent a message when she literally skipped the second of the big air jumps - where most of the problems have been today - and did the third instead.

— Will Graves (@WillGravesAP) February 12, 2018

Organizers canceled Sunday's qualifying round because of weather conditions. They also postponed Monday's giant slalom event because of the wind. 

Australia's Tess Coady crashed during a training run, hurting her ACL and forcing her to end her Olympics prematurely. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tess Coady (@tess_coady)

​Anderson finished in first with 83.00 points. Canadian Laurie Blouin earned silver with 76.33 points, while Finland's Enni Rukajarvi won bronze with 75.38 points.