TORINO: Snowboardcross debuts Thursday; Watanabe in for U.S.

TORINO: Snowboardcross debuts Thursday; Watanabe in for U.S.{mosimage}BARDONECCHIA, Italy – Snowboardcross makes its Olympic debut Thursday in Bardonecchia as the men take to the course.

In the gates for the United States will be Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, Calif.), Jason Smith (Basalt, Colo.), Graham Watanabe (Sun Valley, Idaho) and Seth Wescott (Carrabassett Valley, Maine).

Watanabe is a late entry as he replaced Jayson Hale (Sugar Bowl, Calif.) after Hale crashed in Tuesday training and injured his knee.

Holland is coming off a gold-medal performance in Snowboarder X at X Games Ten in January.

Snowboardcross should prove to be a popular event with the Olympic spectators and television viewers. It combines both freestyle and racing skills, forcing competitors to be solid all-around riders if they want to be successful.

Six snowboarders start at the same time and race down the course. The first to cross the finish line is the winner. Along the way, riders must negotiate berms, banks, jumps and gates, all at high speed.

The speeds, course features and the proximity of each rider to another makes for an exciting event, often with gnarly crashes.