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Enter the 'Bloody Dracula' — and American Kyle Mack exits with big air silver

Kyle Mack didn't have an 1800 or even a 1620 in his arsenal, and as it turned out, he wouldn't need one. Five full midair rotations might work for some snowboarders, but Mack had something trickier in store for the big air finals. He brought a "Bloody Dracula" to the Olympics.

With a name that evokes the terror rightfully associated with a sport that involves flying the length of a basketball court, twirling and flipping as many times as possible, the Bloody Dracula vaulted the 20-year-old American snowboarder to the Olympic podium. Mack won silver in the first men's big air competition the Winter Games have hosted, turning to a demanding trick that he'd never before landed.

The name for the trick is simple to understand - failing to land a Bloody Dracula will surely leave a snowboarder with a bloody face - but executing it is not. On his second run Saturday, Mack threw down a double-cork 1440 - four full rotations - a reliable and safe trick for the world's top riders. But what distinguished Mack's was the grab. The Bloody Dracula is every bit as scary as it sounds and on Saturday it sent shivers through rest of the big air field.

"It was insane," said Red Gerard, Mack's American teammate who won gold last week in the slopestyle competition.


Source :- chicagotribune

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