Night Shift: Tom Copsey, Andrew Duthie, Sam McMahon
Big Air may be the shiny new snowboard discipline at Pyongchang 2018, but good old halfpipe (which has now an Olympic event for 20 years) is still the one to beat in terms of spectacle.
Defending champion Iouri Podlatchikov is out after sustaining a head injury at the X Games – we’re wishing him a speedy recovery. Even if he’d shown up, however, he’d have a task on his hands retaining the gold.
Japan’s Ayumu Hirano is definitely one of the favourites, with a run featuring back-to-back 1440s. It recently bagged him X Games gold, so if he can stick that routine in South Korea then it’s his to lose.
Sochi bronze medallist Taku Hiraoka will most likely sail through qualifiers, as will Americans Ben Ferguson and Chase Josey. Yiwei Zhang from China will probably do the same, even if he doesn’t whip out his triple cork.
“Despite almost being old enough to be Ayumu’s dad, Shaun’s still capable of beating him”
All eyes will be on Shaun White as he aims to put the disappointment of Sochi behind him and finally snag that elusive third Olympic gold medal.
Despite almost being old enough to be Ayumu’s dad, he’s still capable of beating him. His recent 100-score was controversial, but there’s no doubt that it was world class. Write him off at your peril.
Scotty James is another rider likely to bother the podium, and Pat Burgener will aim to bring the gold back to Switzerland. Meanwhile Peetu Piiroinen might not be a contender, but it’s nice to see the silver medallist from Vancouver 2010 still making it to the Games – especially as he’s one of the few competing in both slopestyle and halfpipe.
Whatever happens, Wednesday’s final will be insane. All these guys want to be there, so there’ll be no holding back in the qualifier.
Riders (in order of drop):
Yuto TOTSUKA, Derek LIVINGSTON, Kent CALLISTER, Jake PATES, Jan SCHERRER, Chase JOSEY, Ayumu HIRANO, Raibu KATAYAMA, Tim-Kevin RAVNJAK, Ben FERGUSON, Taku HIRAOKA, Markus MALIN, Scotty JAMES, Shaun WHITE, Patrick BURGENER, ZHANG Yiwei, SHI Wancheng, Johannes HOEPFL, Janne KORPI, Elias ALLENSPACH, Rakai TAIT, Tit STANTE, Peetu PIIROINEN, LEE Kwang Ki, Seamus O CONNOR, KIM Ho Jun, Nathan JOHNSTONE, KWEON Leejun, Nikita AVTANEEV
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