Jen Gerard still remembers when, for her family and her son Red Gerard in particular, the Olympics weren’t yet the Olympics. 

It was right around Christmas 2017. Red had already qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics, set for the ensuing February in PyeongChang, South Korea, but wasn’t set to leave for more than a month.

He was set on snowboarding in the backcountry, not necessarily preparing for his two events, snowboard big air and, his signature event, snowboard slopestyle.

Jen and her husband Conrad, Red’s parents, were concerned. They called Red, just 17 years old at the time, and arranged to sit down with him at a coffee shop near their home in Silverthorne.

“We thought maybe going into the backcountry snowboarding in January wasn’t the best idea, that maybe he should be doing a little more practicing,” Jen Gerard said. “We don’t like to be pushy parents, but we wanted to make sure he knew this was really an opportunity to change his life.”

There’s no question: The Olympics very much did change things, for Red and even for the Gerard family.

He went on to win slopestyle gold in 2018 and he’s now perhaps the most notable member of the United States men’s snowboarding contingent.

His family, meanwhile, has been along for the ride. They made headlines along with Red back in 2018 as dozens of friends and family members partied during the slopestyle event.

This year, 56 friends and family made the trip and will be packed in to cheer.

Silverthorne’s Red Gerard, and his family, will be back in action at the 2026 Winter Olympics at the Livigno, Italy, Snow Park at 6 a.m. Monday with the two-run qualification round of the men’s snowboard slopestyle event.

The top 12 riders will advance to the three-run finals at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.

A deep field

The men’s slopestyle event will feature two riders with Summit County connections. Red Gerard will be competing in his third Olympics. Jake Canter, who has lived in Silverthorne, will be competing in his first.

The field of competitors is loaded, especially after Canada’s Mark McMorris, a three-time Olympic medalist, announced he’d compete. A nasty fall in training for last week’s Olympic big air competition took him out of that event, but he’s been cleared for slopestyle.

The 2022 silver medalist, Chinese rider Su Yiming, just took bronze in big air and will be among the slopestyle favorites. Japan’s Kira Kimura won gold in big air and Ryoma Kimata took silver and will both be big threats in slopestyle, as well.

Still, both Americans enter with strong shots at the podium. Canter comes into the Games off the best showing of his career, a win at a World Cup event in Aspen in January. Red Gerard, meanwhile, has been one of the event’s leading contenders and one of the sport’s top names since that slopestyle event in PyeongChang eight years ago.

His big tricks combined with an effortless style have repeatedly put him atop the heap. He placed fourth at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, then won X Games slopestyle gold in 2024 and 2025 before landing bronze this January.

“I know what it takes and I feel like I’m riding the best I ever have,” Red Gerard said earlier this month in a U.S. Olympic Team press conference. 

Family time

Jen and Conrad Gerard just wanted to make sure their son knew the stakes.

“We were like, ‘You know Red, we don’t think you understand the importance,'” Jen Gerard said.

They all understand now, as the Olympics have helped in usher plenty of changes.

The family, for instance, isn’t the same. It has grown since 2019, and has even traveled to Italy.

No fans could attend the 2022 Olympics in China, so they were ready for this opportunity in Italy. All of Red’s seven brothers and sisters are there, along with their children. There are aunts and uncles, cousins and old family friends swarming northern Italy, cheering at hockey games, visiting castles and filling up restaurants. 

More Gerards have shown up for the Olympics in Italy than show up for family Christmas in Colorado. They established a reputation in 2018 for shotgunning beer while waiting for Red’s runs. That’s changed a bit, too.

“A lot of those people drinking the beers have kids now,” Jen Gerard said with a laugh.

Red Gerard is not the same either. He now has sponsors, big ones, and the world has expectations.

“Some of that fun isn’t the same, the riding for fun and riding to keep up with your brothers,” Jen Gerard said. “It’s become more of a job.”

And yet, some things haven’t changed at all.

“He still loves snowboarding,” Jen Gerard said. “He’s grown up and matured a lot and he has learned how to compete. 

“It’s all been very beneficial for him. It’s really enabled him to be able to have so much, which is wonderful.”

Original reporting from Summitdaily.com