Each event discipline on the Beijing Winter Olympic snowboarding program is unique. Some include busting out tricks for points while others entail racing.
Halfpipe
The Olympic halfpipe competition consists of a qualification round and a final round.
The qualification round, which will include up to 25 riders each in both the men’s and women's competitions, will consist of two runs, with each competitor’s best single run counting. The top 12 riders from the qualification round will advance to the final. Scores from the qualification round do not carry over to the final.
The final will consist of three runs. Again in the final, only each competitor's best score will count towards the final results. The start order for all three runs will be the inverse of the results from the qualification round, i.e., the athlete with the lowest score in qualifying goes first and the athlete with the best score goes last.
Parallel Giant Slalom
The Olympic format features a qualification round and head-to-head elimination rounds.
In qualifying, competitors each take two runs — one on the red course and one on the blue course. Their two times are added together, and the athletes with the top 16 cumulative times advance to the elimination rounds. Note that although the qualification round features two athletes taking runs side-by-side on the parallel courses, they are not actually racing each other.
For the elimination rounds, all 16 competitors are seeded according to their times and placed into a bracket. The eliminations consist of four parts: round of 16 or 1/8 finals, quarterfinals, semifinals and medal finals.
Each head-to-head elimination race will consist of just one run down the course. The racer with the better qualification time can choose either the red course or the blue course. Whoever crosses the finish line first on that one run advances to the next round.
The medal finals feature two races: a big final and a small final. The winner of the big final receives the gold medal, while the loser gets silver. The winner of the small final receives the bronze medal.
Snowboard Cross
Individual
The Olympic snowboard cross competition consists of two portions: seeding and elimination rounds.
In the seeding rounds, competitors take individual runs through the course, and the top times determine the seeding for the final brackets. All 32 riders on either side will advance to the elimination heats, hence the term "seeding" round.
In the elimination rounds, competitors are divided into heats. Each athlete wears a bib color that corresponds to their seeding run ranking. The top-ranked rider in the heat wears a red bib, No. 2 a green bib, No. 3 a blue bib, No. 4 a yellow bib, No. 5 a white bib and No. 6 a black bib. Based on their bib colors, riders choose which of the six starting gates they will use in the heat — the rider with the red bib gets first pick, followed by the rider in the green bib, and so on.
Eliminations start with the round of 16 or 1/8 finals. Riders are divided up so that higher seeds will not be able to meet until later rounds. The top racers from each of the heats advance to the quarterfinals. The top riders from each quarterfinal advance to the semifinal heats, and the top riders from each semifinal heat advance to the final, which determines first through sixth place. The racers ranked fourth through sixth in the semifinals are relegated to the small final to determine seventh through 12th place.
If two or more racers appear to cross the finish line at the same time, the official results will be determined after examining the photo finish to see the first part of each rider's body or snowboard that crossed the finish line.
In a case where more than one competitor does not complete the course nor cross the finish line, the rankings in that heat will be based on the location where the competitors have completed the course. Whichever athlete passed more gates further down the course will be ranked higher.
Mixed Team
New to the Olympic program, the mixed team event follows a similar format but with two athletes – one man and one woman – making up a team.
Sixteen teams will compete in an elimination round with quarterfinals, semifinals and small and big finals.
Slopestyle
The Olympic slopestyle competition consists of a qualification round and a final round.
The qualification round will consist of two runs, with each competitor’s best single run counting. The top 12 riders from the qualification round will advance to the final. If the organizers choose to divide the qualification field into two separate heats, then the top six riders from each heat will advance to the final. Scores from the qualification round do not carry over to the final.
The final will consist of three runs. Again in the final, only each competitor's best score will count towards the final results. The start order for all three runs will be the inverse of the results from the qualification round, i.e., the athlete with the lowest score in qualifying goes first and the athlete with the best score goes last.
Big Air
The Olympic big air competition consists of a qualification round and a final round.
The qualification round will consist of three runs, with each competitor’s best single run counting. The top 12 riders from the qualification round will advance to the final. If the organizers choose to divide the qualification field into two separate heats, then the top six riders from each heat will advance to the final. Scores from the qualification round do not carry over to the final.
The final will consist of three runs. The start order will be the inverse of the results from the qualification round, i.e., the athlete with the lowest score in qualifying goes first and the athlete with the best score goes last.
The scores from each competitor's two best runs will be added together to get the final results, and athletes must spin their tricks in different directions on those two runs. For example, if a rider spins a frontside rotation on one of those runs, they will need to spin a backside, switch frontside or switch backside rotation on the other run. If a rider performs the same rotation more than once, then only the highest score will be counted.