Canadian Jasey-Jay Anderson competed in the very first Olympic snowboarding event in 1998. He did so again in 2002, 2006, 2010 (winning gold), 2014 and 2018.
But, for the first time in Olympic history, snowboarding events will be held, and Anderson will not be one of the competitors in Beijing next month.
Anderson, now 46 years old, was not on the Canadian Olympic snowboarding roster announced Wednesday.
Though Canada had the option to send three men to the Olympics in parallel giant slalom, it named one: Arnaud Gaudet, its highest-ranked man in the event this season.
Anderson is the only Canadian other than Gaudet to earn World Cup points in the parallel events this season. His best finish was 27th, but he did not meet Canada’s minimum performance criteria for Olympic selection.
So Anderson’s bid to stay the solo leader in Olympic snowboarding appearances ends. Italian Roland Fischnaller and Japanese Tomoka Takeuchi are set to tie Anderson’s record six Olympics in the sport, according to Olympedia.org.
Anderson, though, should remain the oldest male Olympic snowboarder in history from his participation in 2018.
Meanwhile, it appears 48-year-old Austrian Claudia Riegler will not be going to the Olympics to break her own overall Olympic age record for a snowboarder.
Riegler, who also races parallel giant slalom, has the results to make Austria’s team, but the federation returned a quota spot that could have gone to her.
Riegler chose not to get vaccinated for the coronavirus, and Austria requires it for the Beijing Games, according to Krone.
Beijing organizers allow unvaccinated athletes to compete, should they first quarantine upon arrival in China for 21 days.
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