China vow to win a Big Air medal at Beijing 2022 Winter Games: coach

BEIJING -- Bud Keene, the new coach of China's snowboard Big Air and slopstyle technique national team, confirmed here Thursday that his squad will vie for a breakthrough of podium finish in Big Air at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

"I signed a contract with China to win a medal in 2022. So, that's the goal," the American told a pre-match press conference in the National Stadium, aka the "Bird's Nest", ahead of the Air+Style World Cup Beijing, a FIS-A Big Air event slated on Nov 23-24.

Keene, former coach of some legendary riders like Shaun White and Gus Kenworthy as well as Olympic medal-winning squads of Team USA and Team New Zealand, took charge of the Chinese nationals last October and will see the two-year-old team through to March 2022.

He admitted there's a lot of work to do with the young Chinese squad but felt confident since he saw talent in the youngsters and had many successful cases in the past.

"We have a mountain to climb. There's no question about that. But we're gonna climb it one step once a time," he said.

"Since starting with the China national team, I've been so impressed with the level of ability, quite honestly, that here, there's a lot of talent. They just need to be uncovered, nurtured and guided. I get a great bunch of kids. We'll be climbing that mountain," he added.

Keene enumerated that the Chinese riders' aerobat ablitiy is "exceptional because a lot of them come from gymnastics and martial arts background, and "their air awareness is superior, their competence level is high".

"Now we just have to match their competence level in the air with their competence level on the snowboard," he said.