Explaining the 'Bloody Dracula' trick that Kyle Mack used to win silver in big air
If you watched the inaugural big air events at these Olympics, you know that a lot of the stunts have names that don’t translate to the casual viewer.
Backside, frontside, cork, cab, 900, 1440, 720 … it all sounds Greek to the beginner.
And honestly? None of it sounds all that exciting.
But the “Bloody Dracula?” Well, that’s something we immediately want to know about.
Kyle Mack, a 20-year-old American, landed the trick to win a silver medal Saturday in PyeongChang and Twitter immediately lit up in delight over the name of the trick.
But what is it?
Well, as the NBC analysts explained in the video above, it’s derived from the blood — lots and lots of blood — that can result if you don’t execute it properly.
In the “Bloody Dracula,” a snowboarder jumps off the ramp and immediately grabs the back of his snowboard with both hands. Doing so turns the front of the board down toward the ground. If the trick isn’t landed, the nose of the board can dig into the snow and the boarder is violently sent face first into the snow.
Mack, however, landed his 1440 — which means he completed four 360 degree rotations — and was awarded 86.75 points. It was enough to finish second behind Canada’s Sebastian Toutant for a silver medal.
More Olympic coverage from Yahoo Sports:
• Wetzel: Canadian hockey apologizes for taking off silver medal. She didn’t need to.
• Casino outside Olympic site is meant for everyone but the South Korean people
• Russian bobsledder who wore anti-doping shirt just failed a doping test
• International movement to save dogs from South Korean meat farms gaining steam
• The shame in Shani Davis snubbing the media was that he didn’t get to tell his incredible story
