Snowboard

Olympic-level snowboarding has been enthusiastically received in Canada since native Ross Rebagliati became the sport's first Olympic gold medallist, winning the inaugural giant slalom at the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympic Games.

Three events including giant slalom, halfpipe and snowboard cross are a part of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games program and will be staged at Cypress Mountain, a popular local mountain about 30 kilometres from the Athlete's Village.

Canada's medal hopefuls for the giant slalom event include recent World Cup gold medallist Jasey-Jay Anderson and bronze medallist Matt Morison Matthew Morison, each of whom are likely to go up against the Schoch brothers of Switzerland - Simon and Philipp.

Russia's Ekaterina Tudegesheva is considered a strong medal contender in the Ladies giant slalom.

An in-ground superpipe - so named because of its almost five meter high walls - has been built at Cypress in anticipation of the 2010 Games. American snowboarders Shaun White and Kevin Pearce are likely to compete against Canada's Crispin Lipscomb and Brad Martin in the halfpipe event.

On the Ladies side, halfpipers from the United States are strong as are competitors from Australia.

Snowboard cross will share a course with ski cross, but each event will be staged days apart for course amendments. The United States has a strong showing of snowboard cross athletes including Seth Wescott, Nate Holland and Shaun Palmer as well as Lindsey Jacobellis for the women.

Maëlle Ricker, who finished fourth in snowboard cross at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games and who has claimed two gold medals at the Winter X Games is one of Canada's medal hopefuls.