Halfpipe, Men

The men’s halfpipe competition at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games was held at the Bogwang Phoenix Park in PyeongChang. With 29 athletes from 13 countries competing for the medals, one of the biggest favorites, Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov, was a scratch after the first training due to health reasons. But this still left one of the deepest fields ever in the Olympic history of the event, promising a terrific showdown for one of the most televised medal events of the Games.

Amongst those left fighting for the podium was two-time Olympic champion, the American legend Shaun White and Japan’s Ayumu Hirano, silver medalist at the 2013 X-Games (becoming the youngest medalist in X-Games history at 14) and 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

The halfpipe final was comprised of four Americans, three Japanese, two Australians, two Swiss and one Finn. White, who had set a high bar in qualifying with a best score of 98.50 points, would need that advantage going into the finals and dropping in last, knowing what he had to do to beat his rivals.

The first runs of the halfpipe final saw several snowboarders falling, with Japan’s 16-year-old Yuto Totsuka taking a major crash, requiring him to be removed from the pipe on a stretcher for medical attention.

Australia’s Scotty James, came out strong on his first run, scoring 92.00 points. With his second run, 19-year-old Hirano staked a claim to the podium with an impressive comeback, having fallen on his first run earning only 35.25 points and in 10th place. With Hirano landing back-to-back double cork 1440s, White then set a record of 97.75 points for the highest score in the Olympic men’s halfpipe final. The back-to-back combination of 1440-degree tricks that White executed in his final run was the first time he’d ever done that. Both Hirano and James fell in their third and final run.

White became the first snowboarder to win three Olympic gold medals, his first coming 12 years previous at Torino 2006 and second at Vancouver 2010 (he was fourth at Sochi 2014). His 2018 title marked the 100th Olympic Winter Games gold medal for the United States.

Hirano was denied Olympic gold by the 31-year-old veteran White by less than 2.50 points and won his second career Olympic silver medal. In winning the bronze medal, James who was Australia’s youngest male Olympian in 2010 in 50 years, won Australia’s second medal in PyeongChang.