Look, snowboarding is my love and my livelihood, but I am not waking up at 4:30am to watch qualifiers. With the live broadcast airing a little too early to watch from my couch, I started my day streaming the women’s qualifier replay around 7am from the comfort of my bed. With a little bit less than a two-hour run time, I waited to make my smoothie until after it ended. It looked like an easy day for Chloe Kim. Even with a hurt shoulder from an injury while training back in January, the two-time gold medalist silenced all questions by qualifying first for finals with a 90.25. She didn’t look like she had the same amplitude as she normally does on her first hit, but plenty of riders hold a little back during qualifiers, so that could easily be the case. Chloe’s U.S. teammates had quite the day as well, with Maddie Mastro looking the best she has all season and Bea Kim having an impressive Olympic debut. Both cruised into finals as well with Mastro clinching the third spot with an 86.00 and Bea qualifying tenth with a 76.50.
If Chloe puts down her best run in finals, it will be hard to beat. But just about every woman who qualified for finals has a chance at the podium. Korea’s Gaon Choi was matching the amplitude of Chloe and has the tricks to win the whole thing, and there are some veterans that are looking for gold as well. China’s Xuetong Cai has narrowly failed to make the podium in her past three games, but she has had number one results on the world cup circuit and looked solid in the first event in Livigno. Queralt Castellet claimed Olympic silver in 2022 and once again will be in the finals, she has also been competing longer than most in the halfpipe and knows what strategy to bring to the big show. And nobody can count out Team Japan. Sena Tomita, Sara Shimizu, and Mitsuki Ono have all had podium results this past year and could be at the top when the final athlete drops in. A Japan or American sweep is mathematically possible with three riders in for each country, but with the pressure of an Olympic final and a talent-packed dropsheet, the women’s final is a massive toss-up. The only thing we know for sure is it will be a highlight event for these Winter Games. They will drop in for medals at on Wednesday, Feb.12, at 1:30pm EST.
On the men’s side, they went live in Livigno at the same time as the Big Air, so it was much easier to catch live. I don’t remember a qualifier with this many full pulls to start the contest. The whole field was pretty locked in under the lights and so was NBC, constantly cutting to Shaun White watching from the corral at the bottom. Team USA’s Allesandro Barbieri came out swinging with an 88.50, almost certainly putting himself right into the finals on drop one. He has quite the connection to these games, with both of his parents being from Milan and spending plenty of time in the area while splitting time growing up in the Pacific Northwest. If the snowboard gods want a feel-good story, he might have a chance at the podium come finals day. Australia’s Scotty James, the clear favorite of the event after Ayumu Hirano was injured at Laax last month, put up a 94.00 without breaking a sweat. Japans’ Ayumu Hirano, with a reported fractured pelvis from his fall last month kept it understandably low key for him, which still resulted in an 84.00 and a spot in finals. His teammate, Yuto Totsuka, put down the first triple of the night on his second run for a 91.25 and Valentino Guseli put himself in a nice position for the next round with a respectable 86.75. He didn’t have his cleanest runs in recent memory, but if it all clicks, watch out. New Zealand’s Campbell Melville Ives was severely underscored on his first run, an 84.75 for one of the most impressive runs of the day, but lucky for the judges, still made it through to the next round with the back half of the cutoff crew. Ohio-born Louie Vito made history as the oldest competitor to compete in the Olympic halfpipe as a member of the Italian team, and although he didn’t qualify for finals, he put down a full run and was a hero to every Ohioan who was watching (including me).
We have said it time and time again, but the superpipe is absolutely ridiculous. Without that many of them actually existing around the world to train in, the field is just pushing the discipline to unimaginable heights. Hopefully, more mini pipes start popping up at resorts to inspire more riders to get in the ditch. Alright, the commercial is over. Back to the contest.
China’s Ziyang Wang put down a triple on his way to the finals and shockingly stayed in the 10th spot. Todd Richards then questioned on live TV, “As a trick that basically won the Olympics in Beijing, have we moved on from the triple cork?” If we have, hopefully it’s in the realm of more technical tricks and not more spins. Sadly for USA’s Chase Blackwell, he could not hold on to his final hit in the qualifiers, resulting in a placement just outside of the top twelve. Fellow U.S. rider Jake Pates held on for a clean run on his final attempt and snagged the 12th spot to earn a trip to finals, but had to wait for the rest of the field to finish alongside U.S. rider Chase Josey in 11th to see if they would be bumped off the bubble. Three out of the four U.S. riders qualified for finals, kicking off at 1:30pm EST on Friday, Feb. 13.
See you then.
