What is the Yolo Flip? I-Pod’s halfpipe trick explained (Video)

Just like many of you, I’m not an expert on snowboarding much less halfpipe tricks. But I first heard about Iouri Podlatchikov (known as I-Pod) and his “Yolo Flip” trick that helped him win gold in the halfpipe at Sochi a few weeks before the Olympics. The Yolo flip is something new that he created seemingly in response to the Double McTwist, a 1260 move that Shaun White did at Vancouver to win gold in 2010.

I-Pod, who is a Swiss snowboarder, won gold in the halfpipe on Tuesday despite doing just five tricks on his final run instead of six like most of his competitors. That’s because the Yolo Flip is that insane.

So what exactly does the Yolo flip entail?

It’s a 1440 move that includes two head-over-heels flips and two 360-degree turns. Announcers called it a cab double cork 1440 when he first landed it at X Games Tignes, but I-Pod named it “YOLO” flip. Yolo, of course, is an acronym for “You Only Live Once.” It’s a saying popularized by rapper Drake.

Store Your Board blog furthers breaks down the trick:

Cab = switch frontside. I-pod said himself that the term “Cab”, which comes from Steve Caballero of skateboarding legend, should be reserved for skateboarding tricks. He refers to the YOLO Flip as a switch frontside trick.
Double Cork = 2 inverts
1440 = 2 inverts + 2 rotations

So that’s the Yolo Flip. Think about how insane it is to get enough speed, momentum and hangtime to rotate 1440 degrees on one trick. And I-Pod did it in the Olympics to win gold. White says he landed it in practice, which led him to try it in the Olympics, but he was unable to land it in competition.

Now you know about the Yolo Flip. And if you don’t know about the Drake song — and you probably do — I regretfully have posted it below: