Courtenay snowboarder Spencer O’Brien has been named to Canada’s slopestyle/big air team for the Winter OIympics in South Korea.
Team selection was based on performance in FIS World Cup, World Championship and World Snowboard Tour events between July 1, 2016 and Jan. 1, 2018.
O’Brien won slopestyle gold in Aspen in 2016 for her sixth career X Games medal, and gold in 2017 at a Dew Tour event in Breckenridge, Colo.
She placed 12th at the 2014 Sochi Games, where slopestyle made its Olympic debut.
Other locals bound for Pyeongchang are Carle Brenneman of Comox (snowboard cross) and Cassie Sharpe (halfpipe).
•There are 13 athletes on Team Canada in snowboard cross, halfpipe and parallel giant slalom. Another seven skiers will represent Canada in slopestyle and big air. The events are as follows:
Parallel giant slalom: two riders race head-to-head through series of gates down two parallel courses;
Halfpipe: one rider performs at a time in a sloped half-cylinder of snow. Their routine includes acrobatic flips, spins and airs, moving back from one wall to another;
Snowboard cross: riders race in packs over a course with jumps, berms, rollers and other obstacles;
Slopestyle: riders go down a course comprised of obstacles such as hips, jumps, rails and boxes;
Big air: riders perform a single trick jump.
