*Thanks to Pearl Tesler, of San Francisco’s Exploratorium, for assisting with the physics Peter Oumanski

At the X games' Snowboard Big Air jump event, an entrant has about 2.4 seconds of air time in which to impress the judges. That's not a lot, but it's enough for Maxence Parrot. Last year's gold medalist bested the field with a flawless triple cork 1620: four and a half rotations, all while flipping off-axis three times. The key, he says, is visualization: “In my head I'm the filmer, and I see myself doing the trick.” Of course, physics helps too—here's how he pulls it off.

Approaching | Parrot crouches down low to pick up speed, increasing his velocity and allowing for bigger air—and bigger tricks.

Taking off | As he hits the edge, Parrot straightens his legs and angles his upper body toward the tail end of his snowboard. This initiates rotation just as he's taking off—there's no way to do it in midair, so he has to subtly start doing it on the ground.

After one rotation | Parrot tucks his body into a ball after the first spin, increasing his angular velocity just like figure skaters tucking their arms in to spin faster—which helps him cram in more flair (and flips).

Holding on | “Around the third flip, this is where you want to start grabbing the board,” Parrot says. That crouch ensures that he'll maintain that rotational speed even longer.

Untucking | Straightening up for the final spin and a half slows Parrot down and allows the hyperaware rider—who is keeping track of all these spins midair—to gauge the time he has left until landing.

Scanning | Parrot relies on saccadic eye movements—flicking his gaze over a few “fixation points” on the landing area. As he lands, he looks in the opposite direction of his spin, which helps pull him out of the rotation.

Stomping the landing | Parrot is moving with a lot of kinetic energy, so he “stomps” the landing to make sure his board hits without catching an edge—which could take him from the podium to the hospital.

Watch Maxence Parrot's winning X-Games performance.