American snowboarding great Kelly Clark has entered next month's Winter Games. Games chief executive Arthur Klap said yesterday Clark was a ''trail blazer''.
She won the 2002 Winter Olympics halfpipe gold medal and bronze medals in 2010 and 2014, and has won five Winter X Games halfpipe events.
After claiming her fifth world snowboarding tour title earlier this year, Clark decided to return to Cardrona to defend her Winter Games halfpipe title, and attempt to win a second gold.
A top prospect in the men's event is Russian-born Iouri Podladtchikov, of Switzerland, who will compete in the halfpipe and big air events.
Podladtchikov has collected an impressive string of titles since his first competition in 2007, capped off with the halfpipe gold medal at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.
Other big names who have signed up in the women's halfpipe are Hikaru Oe (Japan), Mirabelle Thovex (France) and Holly Crawford (Australia).
Taku Hiraoka (Japan) and Christian Haller (Switzerland) are competing in the men's event.
Women's slopestyle entries include Austria's Anna Gasser, who is second on the world snowboard tour, and Enni Rukajarvi, of Finland, who won silver at the Sochi Olympics and is ranked third on the tour.
New Zealand Sochi Olympic representative Christy Prior is expected to be a key competitor in the slopestyle event after recording impressive 2015 results, including a first place at the Burton European Open and third place at the X Games.
Among the top-ranked slopestyle men is Yuki Kadono, of Japan, who is second on the world tour, Michael Ciccarelli (Canada) and Lucien Koch (Switzerland).
Talented 18-year-old Carlos Garcia-Knight leads the New Zealand contingent in slopestyle and big air.
Garcia-Knight was the highest-ranked freestyle snowboarder and silver medal winner in slopestyle at the world junior championships in China.
Winter Games sports manager Iona Bentley said there was considerable interest in the big air event on the final day because it had recently been added to the Winter Olympic programme, and will feature for the first time in South Korea in 2018.
Snow Sports NZ park and pipe coach Tom Willmott said the New Zealand snowboard team welcomed the chance to compete at home at the first big air since the event was added to the programme.
''One of the best things about the event is the world-class purpose-built big air jump at Cardrona which doubles as a fantastic training venue for the team after the competition is complete,'' Willmott said.
