Snowboarding-American Gerard seeks his 17-year-old self at third Winter Games

LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 3 - American Red Gerard is going into his third Olympic Games trying to recapture the way he rode at 17, when he burst into the elite levels of the sport by winning a gold medal in slopestyle. 

The 25-year-old Gerard, who became in 2018 the youngest snowboarding Olympic champion, called it a "wild thing" that he is now among the older competitors in the sport at the Milano Cortina Winter Games. 

At Pyeongchang, Gerard placed fifth in big air in addition to his slopestyle gold. He returned to Beijing in 2022, narrowly missing the podium with a fourth‑place slopestyle finish and another fifth in big air.

Asked how he was approaching his third Olympics, Gerard said he was "just trying to go back to that 17-year-old self".

"I know what it takes," Gerard told reporters in Livigno, Italy, where snowboarding events start on Thursday. "I feel like I'm riding the best I ever have in a lot of ways."

STIFF COMPETITION

Gerard's teammates include Jake Canter, 22, Sean FitzSimons, 25, and Ollie Martin, 17.

Gerard said he will resort to "doing the tricks that I know how to do and not worrying about the judges", adding that he benefited from being surrounded by younger teammates. "I think it's a friendly push off each other."

He said snowboarding competition was getting tougher as athletes from around the world improve, and it is becoming harder to impress the judges.

"Every rider here at the Olympics is someone to be worried about," Gerard said. Years ago, there were roughly 15 top competitors.  "Now there's 30 of them, and everyone's so good."

Riders now need to keep up with rapid progression of tricks, which increases the risks of falls and injuries. Some snowboarders can complete 18s, or 1800 degrees of rotation in the