Dropping in is an understatement when it comes to the Olympic half-pipe rides, rather, they fall from the sky and throw down the hardest tricks out there. The American men dominated the half-pipe Wed., Feb. 17, with Shaun White taking home the gold as expected and Scotty Lago also hopping on the medal stand in third place.

Although the men did well on Wednesday, the women failed to hit the high bar set in place by the men the following night. Although both the men and the women carried four snowboarders to Vancouver, America only carried away four medals, the men taking gold and bronze, Hannah Teter brought home the silver and Kelly Clark got second bronze for the team.

Women and men are not compared often for their athletic ability, but when it comes down to who provides a better performance some traits do need to be kept in mind. For one, the men were flying up to heights of 30 feet above the lip of the half-pipe while most women barely had time to rotate their board around. The men were pulling the hardest tricks in the book, such as the “double cork,” and White even pulled off a “double McTwist”—a trick only he has mastered.

While the men soared to new heights, the women kept their tricks to 900s and grabs, except for Torah Bright, the gold medalist from Australia, who pulled ahead of the pack without even attempting what she has been working on, the “double cork” that had become so popular with the men but has never been shown by the women. Not only did the girls play it safe, but the majority of them fell on both their first and second runs; the women often scrubbed out the landings and if that did not take them down, the loss of speed took them out of the competition.

The women could have carried more speed into the pipe had they started from the top of the run rather than waiting until they were halfway to the pipe to start. The men booked it down the top of the run and pumped right into the half-pipe throwing down difficult trick combos and keeping their air high above spectators’ heads. The women slowed themselves down into the pipe and rolled over the lip—the lack of speed into the pipe and the lack of the pumping action greatly decreased their speeds.

Although the women put down their best, the large amount of mistakes made it a hard competition to watch—especially since the women followed the men’s spectacular performance the night before

All together the ladies were not nearly as impressive to watch as the men. Whether the difference is a variance in strength between the two genders, different levels of fear, or just plain athletic ability is up to the viewer.