Snowboarder Chris Corning Opens Season With Runner-up Finish In Big Air World Cup

Chris Corning competes during the men's big air final at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 15, 2022 in Beijing.

Chris Corning is off and running on his 2022-23 world cup campaign in big air snowboarding.
The two-time Olympian secured a runner-up finish in his first event of the season Saturday in Edmonton, Alberta.
Corning went out and set the pace with his first run, earning the highest score of the night with a 93.50. He was still on top after the second runs were completed, but Australia’s Valentino Guseli had an 87.00 score on his third run to win the competition with a total score of 172.50.
Corning’s third run of 78.50 left him in second place by just .50 points. Nicolas Laframboise of Canada came in third with 168.00.
The scoring format calls for the best two of each athlete’s three runs to be used in the total score.
For Corning, who was the big air world cup overall winner in 2017-18 and 2019-20 and world silver medalist in 2017, the finish was his best in the big air world cup since a 2019 victory in Atlanta.
The 23-year-old from Arvada, Colorado, made his Olympic debut at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, finishing just off the podium in fourth place in big air and ninth in slopestyle. He returned to the Olympic Games last winter in Beijing, finishing seventh in big air and sixth in slopestyle.
Corning was the only American to make the final in either the men’s or women’s competition in Edmonton. Kaitlyn Adams was the highest-finishing U.S. woman, placing 13th.
Jake Canter and 2022 Olympian Sean Fitzsimons advanced as far as the semifinals on the men’s side, finishing in 13th and 17th place, respectively.
The big air world cup heads stateside next for the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colorado, Dec. 17.