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Why isn't there a womens big air event at the X-games?

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jibbpeter
Posts: 1613 - Karma: 4,083
Freeskiing is one of the most progressive sports on this planet, and in which event do we allmost allways see the new boundary breaking tricks? Big air.
In my opinion they should also let the ladies hit it. I just read an article on freeskiier on the sustainability in womens slopestyle (http://freeskier.com/stories/mans-course-womens-slopestyle-skiing-sustainable), where the size matter on the features is being discussed, and it got me thinking.
We all know that there is a pretty big difference between men and womans when it comes to skiing (both mental and physical reasons ofc.), but how can we facilitate for the ladies to progress faster?

It may not be the whole solution, but i think letting in Womens Big Air at the X-games could do a whole lot!
Build a smaller kicker besides the large one, so they actually would dare to attempt the bigger tricks!
Grete says she would send it if the jumps were smaller, so if the jump is build right and is not too large we will most likley see bigger tricks. For all we know they would send progressive tricks of the big kicker too! Just look at the Nine Queens event!
We all know what happens when the pressure is on at the Men's big air both good and bad, but that's all part of the sport.
I think they deserve a shot at it and will also be a factor that will progress Womens slopestyle as well.



Feb 4 2014 5:43PM
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milk_man
Posts: 5252 - Karma: 5,983
Because a big air comp is supposed to have tricks that you don't see your friends doing everyday.. That's all it would be
Feb 4 2014 10:42PM
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Miomo
Posts: 4302 - Karma: 14,133
Because women can hardly hit the slope jumps.
Feb 4 2014 10:48PM
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STEEZUS_CHRI5T
Posts: 2931 - Karma: 22,299
I could.



Click for larger image
Feb 4 2014 10:54PM
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gbrunch
Posts: 115 - Karma: -7
lol to the guy defending devin logan. Your right, a flat 5 tickle to open up is "throwing down"


Feb 4 2014 10:56PM
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gbrunch
Posts: 115 - Karma: -7
forgot to mention she didn't do any rail tricks.
Feb 4 2014 10:59PM
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lurking
Posts: 2222 - Karma: 6,788
because no one would watch it
Feb 4 2014 11:07PM
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Chinchi
Posts: 1591 - Karma: 4,211
It would he too intense to be broadcasted for the general public to see.
Feb 4 2014 11:13PM
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TotalNan
Posts: 147 - Karma: 339
If the women are already complaining that the slopestyle jumps are too big, how would having them hit a big air jump solve anything
Feb 5 2014 10:26AM
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John18_6
Posts: 7313 - Karma: 49,163
inb4 Lisa triples and shuts all of you up
Feb 5 2014 11:15AM
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Chubz.
Posts: 13918 - Karma: 25,661
Lol
Feb 5 2014 12:59PM
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steezyshit
Posts: 785 - Karma: 1,342
didn't Emilia Wint trow a dub back too ?
Feb 5 2014 1:02PM
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Tree60
Posts: 1438 - Karma: 4,961
Wow. I just realized how shitty NS can be. This thread has to be the most sexist thing I've seen on this website and you guys are being awful people.

Yes. Womens skiing will not ever catch up to men. Women don't have the strength or weight to throw their bodies around like men do.

Personally, I would be super pumped to watch big air on the womens side. I think their side of the sport could progress incredibly fast. Look at nine queens. We have 17 year old girls throwing dubs. Because all there is for women is slopestyle, they have to put an entire run down. It doesn't leave that much room for progression. In fact, when was the last time mens skiing progressed because of a slopestyle run? It's been a god damn long time. Women are at the point where stomping a trick on eight different features actually hinders progression in competition.

For men, we see the big tricks thrown in two places: 1. Video parts (where I do agree that women need to step up to a bit more.) and 2. Big air competitions like Xgames, where they can take some risks and still have a chance at winning if they fall on a few tricks.

tl;dr Big air IS where progression happens whether you like it or not. Stop being sexist pigs, it makes this whole site look bad.
Feb 5 2014 1:24PM
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JAHBRADOR
Posts: 3004 - Karma: 17,069
Henrik "progressed" way more in his slope run this year than the big air.

You are pretty much just talking around saying "women suck".

Its not being sexist, its stating the truth.
Feb 5 2014 2:01PM
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LOLO_FAVRE
Posts: 432 - Karma: 2,052
this
Feb 5 2014 2:24PM
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MNS
Posts: 5386 - Karma: 3,241
Women's skiing is not so far behind because of biological differences. Women are capable of being strong and coordinated. Watch women's gymnastics...
Feb 5 2014 2:30PM
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ski0
Posts: 2321 - Karma: 5,370
Dude you have no idea what you are talking about. The ideal body type of a freeskier is a gymnast. They need to have great balance, and a good strength to weight ratio. Women are fucking great at trampoline, gymnastics, and other types of freestyle skiing (aerials). Saying that they will always be held back due to "strength or weight" is simply ridiculous.

Look at the top freeskiers today, and at this point you will realize that many of the best freeskiers do not have the Ideal body type for freeskiing I described. Why? because our sport hasn't gotten to the point where people need to be in great shape to get the extra edge on the competition. But its not like Bobby Brown is a better skier then E dollo because he has more strength or weight to throw around.

Please ... Don't make it seem like Womens freeskiing is being held back because of a lack of physical attributes. I personally believe they are held back because:
A) they should be pushed more, and have more big air competitions that force them to go big
B) There is a lack of female interest in the sport compared to males
C) Need to grow some metaphorical balls
Feb 5 2014 2:38PM
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Toaster-Tony
Posts: 3531 - Karma: 5,850
Because every jump on the slope course is a "big air event"
Feb 5 2014 2:38PM
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Tree60
Posts: 1438 - Karma: 4,961
Yet mens gymnastics are ahead of womens as well. Its not something that the women cannot overcome, its just one of the reasons, the others you stated are the others, that their sport is a couple years behind mens.
Feb 5 2014 2:44PM
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Tree60
Posts: 1438 - Karma: 4,961
Henrik progressed slopestyle this year, he didn't do progressive tricks that he hasn't done before, unlike big air, where there are insane new tricks thrown almost every year.

I do agree that women are behind men, and always will be.

My post was saying that I'm disappointed in NS and in professionals like Lolo for wanting to deny women the chance to progress on a stage like XGames big air.
Feb 5 2014 2:48PM
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busterburns
Posts: 485 - Karma: 539
I sure hope I skipped the first response that had this kind of substance..

any of you who said that women don't deserve a shot at big air are being pretty mindless, is there potential for damage to some female athletes ACLs etc. ? Yep. are they going to do tripples? doubtful. But to eliminate the possibility at all because "it would fucking blow....." is fucking moronic.
It's 2014 boys, if you're gonna support skiing as a sport try not to make it some sexist one-sided bullshit.
Feb 5 2014 2:54PM
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JAHBRADOR
Posts: 3004 - Karma: 17,069
Uhhh? Sw butter dub ring any bells??

Also, LOLO has the right to say whatever the fuck he wants. Just because he is/was a professional skier doesnt mean he cant comment on aspects of the sport with his own opinion. Devin spoke her mind about Tanner in the documentary. Even though her opinion is shit and wrong, i still respect that she spoke her mind.


P.S. luh you Lolo
Feb 5 2014 3:33PM
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ski0
Posts: 2321 - Karma: 5,370
My point is that a guy like Tom Wallisch is not really a super fit dude. He actually makes a point in stating he dislikes going to the gym. Its not his weight or his strength that make him a good freeskier. Any chick who squats a few times a week could easily be stronger then Tom. Personally, I think its the psychological barriers not the physical barriers holding them back
Feb 5 2014 3:43PM
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Sparta
Posts: 226 - Karma: 313
Women literally have a hard time clearing the jump, let alone throw a trick that will impress the feeble minded adolescents of NS. The jumps need to be smaller because they have a hard time gathering the required speed to hit the jump properly. Last year at Dew Tour Killington, so many girls had issues clearing the jumps and got hurt as a result. It's simply not safe and it is slowing down the progression of their sport. As said in another thread, women's racing uses different courses, women golfers have shorter courses... So why is this such a big deal here in freeskiing?
Feb 5 2014 3:45PM
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BobYohan
Posts: 3001 - Karma: 375
Great idea. Give the ladies a venue and an incentive to learn bigger tricks one at a time and eventually their slopestyle runs will improve too, just like the guys.

and second to the person above who said kelly sildaru is the future. she showed up to my home park this week and was throwing 360 swaps on rails like a boss. at 11 or 12 years old.
Feb 5 2014 4:48PM
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ski_powpow
Posts: 1247 - Karma: 1,200
Woman don't need a world fucking stage to progress. Chicks arguing for further integration into comp skiing so that they can progress is ridiculous. I understand in mens big air, a bunch of new shit that's never been thrown down has been thrown down in X and only at X, but girls can't use this as their bargaining chip. Chick's need to sack up big time outside of the comp scene and lock tricks down. Henrik didn't go from flat 5 safety's to nosebutter trips because he had xgames big air. He skis hard as fuck when he's not competing so that when he comes into comps like X, he's CONFIDENT that trying something new is well within the realm of possibility because he's done 1000 nosebutter dubs just fucking around with his buddies and having fun.

Moral of my rant is, girls need to TRY and learn new shit to progress. Doing a rodeo 5 into an airbag all fucking day is a waste of time. You wanna make the same money as men? Have your own big air? Start hucking like a beast and start locking down shit that a 10 year old can't do. I have so much respect for these young girls who are sending it with 10's, dubs and all that shit. I don't respect these uber branded chicks at the head of comp skiing that think they are the shit and deserve more because they brought a sketchy 7 around in their slope run.
Feb 5 2014 6:57PM
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CrotchKiller
Posts: 9037 - Karma: 6,943
rightside nosebutter dub 12

switch tailbutter dub 10

switch right dub 10 leading safety

all new for henrik in his slope run....



Feb 5 2014 7:08PM
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jordangaebel
Posts: 365 - Karma: 92
"women are only 4 years behind the men in freestyle skiing" hahahahaha
Feb 5 2014 7:28PM
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TotalNan
Posts: 147 - Karma: 339
Quoting for emphasis... came here to say this exact same thing. Life begins where your comfort zone ends. Chilling in your comfort zone all day accomplishes nothing
Feb 5 2014 9:55PM
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Troy.
Posts: 5070 - Karma: 12,549
Jesus, half of this thread is just mysognistic comments passed off as humor. Grow up and respect the other side.
Feb 5 2014 10:00PM
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Troy.
Posts: 5070 - Karma: 12,549
Also, there are plenty of girls that can kill it, but don't in slope runs. Why? Because they don't have to

If you could win a comp with a grabbed 7, why would you go much bigger and risk a season ending injury? I truly believe that women's skiing will progress a lot as soon as Kelly Slidaru or someone comes on the scene and is going big, every hit, and everyone else will have to step up just to keep up. Thats what it will take, in my opinion.
Feb 5 2014 10:04PM
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Gherbs
Posts: 530 - Karma: 903
i agree to a point, there does need to be someone to keep up with Kelly though otherwise we'd probably end up with another Shaun White scene.
Feb 5 2014 10:21PM
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baaangthat
Posts: 2245 - Karma: 2,587
white knight/virgin/apologist detected

"but what if she breaks her arm and her everything?"
Feb 5 2014 10:41PM
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scientist
Posts: 6920 - Karma: 348
dude, no. all that physical barrier bullshit is quite a cop out. you can't tell me devin logan weighs less than henrik, and henrik is getting the speed to sour spot every landing, with butters on the takeoff.

There are plenty of smaller jumps at most every resort out there and i still fail to see many women's edits that surpass my own ability.
Feb 5 2014 11:40PM
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Troy.
Posts: 5070 - Karma: 12,549
That's the whole thing though - snowboarding sort of plateau'd, and then Shawna Whyte showed up, blew eveyone out of the water, then hung out on top while every else played catch-up. It took a little while, but other riders are giving him a run for his money now. Tanner did the same thing in skiing. Someone just has to step up.
Feb 6 2014 12:00AM
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deleted5
Posts: 14507 - Karma: 13,507
Definitely not 90% when i was living in breck I only saw about 25ish people out of the 100's that skied there actually lap freeway,the big park, and minus the Norwegians and pro's that would come for a month. I maybe saw about 20 dubs, which for the 5 months i would ski there isn't much.
Feb 6 2014 12:32AM
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FerrisBueller
Posts: 8280 - Karma: 5,173
Slopestyle does not stop progression, if anything women would be way worse at big air.

Do you see a women's snowboard big air?


Its just not meant to be...guys go big and girls don't
Feb 6 2014 1:11AM
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FerrisBueller
Posts: 8280 - Karma: 5,173
Slopestyle does not stop progression, if anything women would be way worse at big air.

Do you see a women's snowboard big air?


Its just not meant to be...guys go big and girls don't
Feb 6 2014 1:12AM
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HungryHypocrite
Posts: 765 - Karma: 939
Heard that if by 2020 they progress enough, there will be something called "Womens Medium Air"
Feb 6 2014 1:36AM
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Sparta
Posts: 226 - Karma: 313
Weight is a part of it for sure, and so is strength relative to weight. The absolute fact is they have a hard time clearing jumps and spend their majority of their concentration on doing just that. If they had a slightly smaller jump that they could more easily clear, they could then concentrate on progressing their tricks instead of blowing their knees or breaking both heels casing the knuckle like last years Dew Tour stop. Which does take "balls" by the way- to know this jump is soo big that you will have a hard time clearing it yet you still give it all you've got.
Feb 6 2014 1:55AM
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youRsmellA
Posts: 349 - Karma: 236
Successful girl sports use different set ups than their male versions.

LPGA: shorter holes cause they admit they can't hit it as far. There should really just be separate girl comps with smaller slope courses, small enough for them to look like competent composed professional skiers.

Gymnastics: different apparatuses that emphasize balance over strength. Girls could be just as good as guys at tech rail tricks, give them longer rails to do 3 swaps on.

Dancing (not a real sport but girls are good at it): Girls don't try to dance like guys they have invented their own style. Girl skiers try to ski like guys, they need to get their own vibe going so they dont look like sloppy timid guy skiers.

IMO girls dont want anything to change because they know they've stumbled upon a cash cow that is handing them way more money than sane capitalism should allow.
Feb 6 2014 2:43AM
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onenerdykid
Posts: 6657 - Karma: 10,898
But the majority of girls actually want to change the course set up- at least all of the athletes that I have spoken with do.

But I agree to your other points. I would add again that women's World Cup racing does not use the same courses as the guys. Women 95% of the time don't even race on the same slope (no Hahnenkamm for women, no Wengen for women, etc) but if they do use the same slope then it is a shorter course and less gates.

Telling a girl to sack up and throw down is a bit retarded. They are already in a full tuck in hopes to clear some of the jumps. These big jumps are for sure slowing down their progression.
Feb 6 2014 2:55AM
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pow_pow~
Posts: 1429 - Karma: 1,804
If they want a big air comp they should hit the jumps in the Olympics without complaining so much.
Feb 6 2014 2:58AM
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Frediboy94
Posts: 427 - Karma: 730
Yes, women's newschooling will always be at least a few years behind men's. The argument in this case was that the reason for the current difference isn't physical attributes. I bet if you gave a world class female gymnast a few years and a good economic incentive to train slopestyle, she would be throwing double corks with solid grabs on all jumps and flips off rails like it aint no thing.

As to this thread: Many people are talking about how chicks wouldn't hit a big air jump. In my understanding a big air event is in practice marked by the fact that you only take one jump per run, it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with jump size. Just look at the original X games' big air events...

I think women's skiing would progress a bunch if they were pushed into this kind of event. If you only have to do one trick each run you can try to land your hardest move a bunch of times, land it once and win.
If you have to take a full run you aren't as inclined to do your hardest tricks, because the rest of your run will be all for naught if you fuck up on the money booter.
It's basic maths really. If you have three really advanced tricks you want to link in a slope run and the probabilities of landing them are 50, 40 and 30%, the likelyhood of getting a competitive score would be only 6%, right?. That's assuming that you land your rail tricks every time.

In a big air comp the probability of getting a competitive score on each run would be 50, 40 and 30% respectively.

What I'm trying to say is that a chance to throw down in single hit contests would provide chicks with incentive to do crazy tricks they wouldn't regularly land, or even need to land.

As a competition skier, why risk breaking your neck if there isn't any hardware in it for you?

Feb 6 2014 10:25AM
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pow_pow~
Posts: 1429 - Karma: 1,804
even if you take out jumps look at their rail game. that is easily 7 + years behind men. men and women will never be on the same level in physical sports. there are a few rare exceptions. thats just the way it is and they need to accept that and accept that when we are saying that we're not paying them out but just telling it straight.
Feb 6 2014 11:16AM
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youRsmellA
Posts: 349 - Karma: 236
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/57473258-77/souza-accident-critical-skiing.html.csp

That doesn't always work out
Feb 6 2014 12:10PM
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jibbpeter
Posts: 1613 - Karma: 4,083
So much this.

There's a huge difference between men and women physically, and also on the mental part as well in most cases.
You don't expect a girl to lift 400kg in a benchpress contest just because the men does it. I'ts kinda the same in skiing; they need smaller measured features besides the ones that the guys hits, this will seperate the good from the best, because the best will do the biggest tricks on the biggest features.

It's the same thing when your local mountain host a "bigair" comp with different sized kickers; those who hit the largest jumps will score a larger ammount of points.

Feb 6 2014 2:39PM
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Armada333
Posts: 175 - Karma: 57
I miss Sarah :'(
Feb 7 2014 1:29AM
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T-Nutcracker
Posts: 1056 - Karma: 434
Why isn't there a womens big air event at the X-games?
is just like asking Why isn't Shawny competing in slope ?
Feb 7 2014 2:45AM
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Hackster
Posts: 145 - Karma: -11
Haha with that judging going on reverse the order and swap Lisa for Dara......
Feb 7 2014 9:48AM
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Tree60
Posts: 1438 - Karma: 4,961
why not add the incentive? Right now a rodeo 5 and a barely grabbed 7 have one the xgames for women a couple years in a row. Why should they go bigger? They don't need to do more to become the best female skier out, and like it or not, that is a reason people want to get better.

Look at nine queens last year. A switch 7 couldn't win that comp, so people started going bigger. Lisa zimmerman threw a dub. Why not have more things like that, that almost force women to progress to win. Staying in their comfort zone isn't doing anything for their skiing, but their never being forced to move out of their comfort zone and progress like men are.

I also think that there should be a lot more filming coming from the female side of our sport, because a damn lot of progression comes frome there too, but the kids in this thread are the ones that keep that from happening "Because it would suck"
Feb 7 2014 1:34PM
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