Snowboarding 2018/Men's halfpipe

Men's halfpipe
General information
Sport	Snowboarding 2018
Date	13-14 February 2018
Competitors	29 athletes
Venue	Phoenix Snow Park
Previous medalists
Gold	Iouri Podladtchikov
Silver	Ayumu Hirano
Bronze	Taku Hiraoka
Conditions
Temperature	Day 1: -3°C / 26.6°F Day 2: 1°C / 33.8°F
Length	330 metres
Forerunners
Forerunner	Lee Joon-sik South Korea
Forerunner	Kim Kang-san South Korea
Forerunner	Lee Hyun-jun South Korea
Forerunner	Kim Min-jun South Korea
Medalists
	Shaun White
	Ayumu Hirano
	Scotty James

The men's halfpipe of Snowboarding 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 13-14 February 2018 in the Phoenix Snow Park. With 29 athletes competing, the event was won by Shaun White from USA, with Ayumu Hirano from Japan taking the silver medal and Scotty James from Australia taking bronze.

Format

The competition exists out of two separate rounds. Each competitor performs twice in the qualification, with the athletes with the twelve best scores of each qualification advancing to the final. The athletes advancing to the final get three runs, with the best score in any run counting towards the final ranking. The competitor with the highest score in any run in the final is the winner.

Preview

Twenty-nine athletes qualified for the event, with snowboard legend Shaun White among its ranks. As the Olympic champion of 2006 and 2010, he was determined to set the record straight after missing the podium in Sochi. Scotty James was the current world champion, after he beat the reigning Olympic medalists and Patrick Burgener at the world championships. The only medalist of 2014 who did not participate at this world championships was silver medalist Ayumu Hirano, who would be another medal contender here. The other American snowboarders Ben Ferguson, Jake Pates, Chase Josey would be other medal contenders, just like Yuto Totsuka and Raibu Katayama from Japan. The other Japanese rider, Taku Hiroaka, was the defending bronze medalist.

Summary

Qualification

Yuto Totsuka was the first to go, and immediately scored 80 points. This score would not be broken until Jan Scherrer and defending silver medalist Ayumu Hirano, who went fifth and seventh. Soon followed by Raibu Katayama and Ben Ferguson, the latter of which received the first score of over 90 points, the quality was high. Especially with the big favorites Shaun White and Scotty James following each other with other scores around the 90 points, the top 11 all had scores higher than 70 points after the first run.

With the second run following the same running order, a lot of the snowboarders were able to improve on their scores. The first one to do so was Kent Callister, although the Americans Jake Pates and Chase Josey also ended up with scores in the 80. Hirano also improved on his performance in the first run, receiving the highest score of the day, while Raibu Katayama also scored above 90, and defending medalist Taku Hiroaka with a last attempt to qualify for the final. James and White once against showed their power, with scores high in the 90, while veteran and winner of Olympic silver in 2010 also almost reached the 80 points. At the end of the qualification, four Americans and three Japanese qualified, as well as two Australians and Swiss, all with a score higher than 77 points.

Qualification Results
Rank	Nat.	Name	Run 1	Run 2
1		Shaun White	93.25	98.50
2		Scotty James	89.00	96.75
3		Ayumu Hirano	87.50	95.25
4		Ben Ferguson	91.00	89.75
5		Raibu Katayama	85.50	90.75
6		Jan Scherrer	84.00	16.00
7		Chase Josey	47.75	83.75
8		Jake Pates	59.50	82.25
9		Patrick Burgener	82.00	50.25
10		Yuto Totsuka	80.00	65.25
11		Peetu Piiroinen	14.25	77.50
12		Kent Callister	66.75	77.00
13		Taku Hiroaka	26.00	75.75
14		Lee Kwang Ki	75.00	72.00
15		Zhang Yiwei	32.50	74.00
16		Tim-Kevin Ravnjak	72.50	27.00
17		Derek Livingston	71.25	32.75
18		Seamus O'Connor	65.50	39.75
19		Markus Malin	30.25	63.50
20		Nikita Avtaneev	63.25	32.75
21		Kweon Lee-jun	58.50	62.75
22		Nathan Johnstone	62.25	10.25
23		Johannes Hoepfl	53.25	59.50
24		Kim Ho Jun	54.50	10.25
25		Tit Stante	24.50	52.25
26		Rakai Tait	36.50	25.75
27		Elias Allenspach	23.75	25.50
28		Janne Korpi	4.50	22.50
29		Shi Wancheng	10.00	11.75

Final

The final followed the qualification scores of the qualification, from the last qualifier (12th) to the top qualifier. However, the circumstances seemed slightly worse than during the qualifications. The first riders Kent Callister, Peetu Piiroinen, and Yuto Totsuka were not able to make an impression. Chase Josey received the first score that would prove as a challenge, scoring high in the 80, but was almost equalled by Raibu Katayama. Once again, the world champion Scotty James and snowboarding legend Shaun White stood out above the rest, both scoring over 90 points.

The second run was mainly to take revenge on failed first runs or to take new risks. The former was the case for Callister, Jake Pates, Jan Scherrer, and Ben Ferguson who improved on their scores with over 40 points. However, the outstanding result of the second run was the score of Ayumu Hirano. Despite being one of the definite medal contenders, he was the first one to come close to the scores of James and White, putting himself in first place after the second run, hoping to win the gold medal.

The third run of the final acted as the ultimate attempt for a perfect run, and only few snowboarders took this opportunity to achieve their best scores. Piiroinen did receive his highest score of the final, but with a score of 13.50, he finished last. Patrick Burgener touched on the 90 points, and climbed two places in the final standings. Josey and Katayama also improved slightly, but just like Piiroinen, this slight improve wouldn't win them any positions. Fourth-placed qualifier Ferguson reached the 90 points with his last run, but not enough to catch up to Scotty James, the current third place. At the last three competitors, only at the very last moment, Shaun White, who qualified on top, caused a shift in the standings, taking gold with a score of 97.75. Yuto Totsuka crashed in the second run and was not able to participate in the last run.

Final Results
Rank	Nat.	Name	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3
1		Shaun White	94.25	55.00	97.75
2		Ayumu Hirano	35.25	95.25	43.25
3		Scotty James	92.00	81.75	40.25
4		Ben Ferguson	43.00	83.50	90.75
5		Patrick Burgener	84.00	51.00	89.75
6		Chase Josey	87.75	52.25	88.00
7		Raibu Katayama	85.75	25.00	87.00
8		Jake Pates	47.00	82.25	27.00
9		Jan Scherrer	31.25	80.50	70.75
10		Kent Callister	20.00	62.00	56.75
11		Yuto Totsuka	39.25	7.00	DNS
12		Peetu Piiroinen	4.50	12.75	13.50

Results

Shaun White became the first snowboarder to win three Olympic gold medals, after his successes at the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Ayumu Hirano won his second (silver) medal, defending his second place, while Scotty James won his first Olympic medal in his third appearance. Ben Ferguson, who won the gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in 2012, finished just outside of the podium, just like the bronze medalist of the world championships Patrick Burgener.

Result	Athlete	Nationality
	Shaun White	United States
	Ayumu Hirano	Japan
	Scotty James	Australia
4	Ben Ferguson	United States
5	Patrick Burgener	Switzerland
6	Chase Josey	United States
7	Raibu Katayama	Japan
8	Jake Pates	United States
9	Jan Scherrer	Switzerland
10	Kent Callister	Australia
11	Yuto Totsuka	Japan
12	Peetu Piiroinen	Finland
13	Taku Hiraoka	Japan
14	Lee Kwang Ki	South Korea
15	Zhang Yiwei	China
16	Tim-Kevin Ravnjak	Slovenia
17	Derek Livingston	Canada
18	Seamus O'Connor	Ireland
19	Markus Malin	Finland
20	Nikita Avtaneev	Olympic Athletes from Russia
21	Kweon Lee-jun	South Korea
22	Nathan Johnstone	Australia
23	Johannes Hoepfl	Germany
24	Kim Ho-jun	South Korea
25	Tit Stante	Slovenia
26	Rakai Tait	New Zealand
27	Elias Allenspach	Switzerland
28	Janne Korpi	Finland
29	Shi Wancheng	China