Maddie Mastro maps out halfpipe trick that just might win Olympics

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The red, faux-leather notebook snowboarder Maddie Mastro carries with her contains detailed entries of ideas and concepts for the halfpipe.

On one of those pages are the inner workings for the front double 1080 — a wish-list trick the 21-year-old American had only sketched out on paper. That is, until recently when she put those thoughts into action.

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If anyone is going to topple defending Olympic champion Chloe Kim in China this week, it could very well be Mastro. It could very well be with a run that includes that version of her trick, which is two flips and a 360-degree rotation with a backward landing.

Hit that, and the gold just might belong to Mastro. But in her eyes, it's more about progression than podiums. Hence, the detailed notebook.

"How I approach my snowboarding and my contest snowboarding is I never want to base my run or success off of one trick," said Mastro, who begins Olympic qualifying on Wednesday, with the final set for the next day. "I want my whole run, top-to-bottom, to speak for itself. I don’t want to put that trick on that pedestal."

Mastro has sketched out a trick in her notebook that just may help her land on the podium at the 2022 Beijing Games, maybe even on the top step. It's called the front double 1080 and includes two flips and a 360-degree rotation with a backward landing.  (AP Photo/Alex Goodlett, File)

Because really that trick was just next up in her journal titled "Notes." Some entries in there are basic thoughts (different grabs on the snowboard). Some are detailed reports (what worked well, what perhaps needs fine-tuning). And some are wish-list tricks — outlandish ones