Saturday will bring the Men’s Snowboard GS competition and a good Winter Olympics betting opportunity.  While the Giant Slalom competition isn’t as nearly as high profile as the halfpipe event that Shaun White dominated last week, it does present a good opportunity for Canada to win a gold medal.  Unlike the halfpipe competition, which is dominated by American riders the other two snowboarding events–GS and snowboard cross–aren’t.  Why this is the case isn’t exactly clear–probably the best explanation is that the many excellent US snowboarders are more interested in the halfpipe and free riding.   That’s where all of the money, fame, notoriety, sponsorships, chicks, etc typically can be found in snowboarding.  No one makes snowboarding films about slalom events, after all…

WINTER OLYMPICS–MEN’S SNOWBOARD GIANT SLALOM:

Canada’s Jasey-Jay Anderson is one of the most successful riders in the world not only in this event but the snowboard cross as well.  He’s won four snowboarding World Cups in his career–this Euro-centric event isn’t a big deal among US riders for the reason mentioned above–although halfpipe is a component, two of the three components are the GS and snowboard cross.  Organizers have added a big air competition to make it more attractive to the US snowboard elite, but so far it remains to be seen if that will happen.

The GS event is being held at Whistler-Blackcomb which gives Anderson a strong ‘home field advantage’ as he’s very familiar with this mountain.  He’s performed well here in the past, including winning a pair of gold medals at the 2005 World Championships.  Before the games he announced he was pulling out of the snowboard cross to focus completely on the GS.  In other words, this is his entire Olympic games and he’s well poised–and well priced–to give Canada a snowboarding gold medal. This line is from Sports Interaction, but you’ll be able to find it at other sportsbooks as ‘game day’ approaches.

PLAY JASEY-JAY ANDERSON +300 TO WIN MEN’S SNOWBOARD GS GOLD MEDAL