The FIS currently organises both a world cup tour and a world championship for each of the Olympic snowboard racing events (parallel giant slalom, parallel slalom and snowboard cross).
Once qualifications are complete, racers are placed in a head-to-head knockout format, starting with 16 athletes and moving to a final race for 1st and 2nd.
It uses a much longer course than slalom, with gates set further apart (spaced 25–32 meters apart), resulting in even higher speeds.
Ste Anne, Quebec, Canada, with Jasey-Jay Anderson (CAN) and Karine Ruby (FRA)] winning.
It was spearheaded by the Canadian team, as FIS had discussed it as a world cup event and possibly an Olympic format for slalom, but it had not been tested till that point.
[1] Banked slalom is a loosely organized group of events, primarily in the Pacific Northwest, but now seen increasingly across Western North America and the rest of the Snowboard world.
It consists of a gully run that is left largely unprepared by machines, safety fencing on the turns and in spill zones and an open relaxed format that promotes a fun spirited friendship among competitors and volunteers.