Snowboarding, Once a High-Flying Sport, Crashes to Earth

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A competitor at the United States Open in Vail, Colo., practiced on the halfpipe on Wednesday. Equipment sales and sponsorship opportunities for snowboarders have declined.

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Tristan Spinski for The New York Times

As the Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov twisted, flipped and spun above the halfpipe at X Games Oslo last week on his way to a silver medal, the bottom of his board — one of the more valuable pieces of advertising real estate in the sport — displayed no corporate logo. Instead, it was adorned with an artistic design he had created for a college class assignment.

The reason for the triumph of art over commerce: Podladtchikov, 27, the 2014 Olympic halfpipe champion, no longer has a board sponsor.

Snowboarding — which scarcely existed 30 years ago and took over ski resorts around the world seemingly overnight, adding 5 million participants in two decades — has tumbled to earth recently. As the sport has been abandoned by participants…

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