Vail athlete leads U.S. snowboarders with Youth Olympic Games big air silver medal

Ski and Snowboard Club Vail snowboarder Oliver Martin won the big air silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games on Sunday in Gangwon, South Korea.

After qualifying sixth, the 15-year-old posted a two-run score of 179.50 points to finish behind Canada’s Eli Bouchard (183.25) and in front of his New Zealand friend Campbell Melville Ives (153.00).

“Today was amazing for me,” Martin told Olympics.com. “I had a good sleep and everything kind of faded out. It all went my way today, so I am really happy about that.”

Three of Team USA’s four slopestyle/big air participants hailed from the Vail club. Martin’s teammates, Brooklyn DePriest and Olivia Lisle finished eighth and 19th, respectively, in the big air event. On Jan. 24 Martin and DePriest were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the slopestyle event while Lisle came in 12th.

In the big air, Martin shocked spectators on his first run with a frontside triple 1800 weddle, which scored 97.25 points — the highest of the day at Welli Hilli Park Ski Resort.

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“I started off with the hard trick because then it would kind of just lower my nerves going into the next two, and hopefully I could land it on the first, and I would be much more confident,” Martin said regarding the trick, which he landed only four times before.

“That trick is pretty hard, so it just felt awesome to land and have a good score down on the first run. That really kind of made me think, ‘Wow, I probably can get on the podium today’.”

After posting an 80.75 on his second attempt, Martin scored an 82.25 with a backside 1440 weddle on his third run. Bouchard, having wrapped up the competition with a 92.25 first-run score and a 91.00 on his second, soaked in his gold medal with a celebratory method grab on his third and final jump.

“I knew already. I looked at the points before dropping and I was really happy,” the Canadian said. “I’m happy to have landed all of my runs today and I did the best that I could, so I’m really happy with that.”

The Youth Olympic Games snowboarding events wrap up with the halfpipe competition on Feb. 1, but no SSCV athletes will participate in that competition.

Historically, SSCV snowboarders have performed well at the Youth Olympic Games. Jake Pates claimed golds in both the slopestyle and halfpipe in 2016 in Lillehammer. This weekend, Pates is competing alongside SSCV alumni Kade Martin and Zoe Kalapos at the Toyota Grand Prix World Cup at Mammoth Mountain.

It’s Pates’ first World Cup start since Jan. 18, 2020, when he finished 14th in Laax, Switzerland.