The race is on. The adrenaline is rising. The final seconds are counting down on the clock. The slope is free and as the gate drops the competitors take off. In parallel snowboarding, a good start is crucial; being just one millisecond slow can lose you the race. If the starting gates do not drop simultaneously, or at all, one athlete has a slower start, which may impact his or her performance and potentially cost them a medal. Equally important, a ‘faulty’ gate casts a bad light on the manufacturer of the gate.