Olympic Snowboarding Halfpipe 2022 Live-Stream Schedule for Men's Final

After a thrilling Olympic women's snowboard halfpipe final earlier this week, it's now the men's turn.

In the women's final, Chloe Kim became the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic snowboard halfpipe gold medals. On the men's side, of course, American Shaun White did it at the Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010 Games, and he was the halfpipe Olympic gold medalist at the Pyeongchang 2018 Games.

However, the 35-year-old isn't favored to win gold again at Beijing 2022. In fact, no Americans are. There's a high likelihood the men's halfpipe final could see a Japanese sweep of the podium, and the rider best suited to prevent that from happening is Australia's Scotty James.

Still, anything can happen in the final; a fall from a heavy favorite can open up the field to anyone who can put down a high-scoring clean run.

Let's take a closer look at the 12 riders who advanced to the final from qualifiers and who to watch when the action goes down Thursday night (Friday morning in China).

          

Men's Halfpipe Final Start List

1. Chase Josey, United States

2. Patrick Burgener, Switzerland 

3. Andre Hoeflich, Germany 

4. Kaishu Hirano, Japan

5. Jan Scherrer, Switzerland

6. Taylor Gold, United States

7. Yuto Totsuka, Japan

8. Valentino Guseli, Australia 

9. Shaun White, United States

10. Ruka Hirano, Japan

11. Scotty James, Australia 

12. Ayumu Hirano, Japan 

          

Men's Halfpipe Final Odds

Ayumu Hirano +150

Scotty James +250

Shaun White +500

Yuto Totsuka +850

          

Men's Halfpipe Schedule

Date: Thursday, Feb. 10

Time: 8:30 p.m. ET 

TV: NBC

Live Stream: NBCOlympics.com, Peacock

           

No one seemed to tell the men's halfpipe riders that Tuesday night's event was just a qualifier.

We saw some extremely heavy riding from the field of 25 snowboarders representing 12 nations. Ayumu Hirano started his second run with back-to-back double cork 1440s (four full rotations, two off-axis flips), while broadcasters initially thought James ended his second run with a frontside double 1620 tailgrab, but the official results analysis scored it as a 1440.

The level of riding was so high that, initially, White looked to be in trouble. After catching his heel edge and falling on his first run, the pressure was on for his second run. He was sitting in 19th place, well outside the top-12 cutoff.

But the American put down a clean second run that included a frontside double 1080, cab double 1080 melon grab, frontside 540, Double McTwist 1260 Weddle grab (his signature trick) and frontside double 1260 to qualify in fourth place.

Unlike in the women's final, where Kim was the only American to advance, there are three Americans in the men's halfpipe final: Taylor Gold, White and Chase Josey. The fourth member of the U.S. snowboard halfpipe team, Lucas Foster, did not advance to the final.

However, the three remaining Americans will have their work cut out for them to earn a spot on the podium. Totsuka is ranked No. 1 in the world and has duked it out with White, James and Ayumu Hirano over the years for halfpipe supremacy.

James is coming off a halfpipe gold at X Games Aspen in January. Hirano won the contest before that, the Laax Open. White didn't compete at X Games and finished third at the Laax Open.

But Ayumu Hirano, Ruka Hirano and Totsuka have a trick up their sleeve that, if they can incorporate it cleanly into a run, is sure to contend for gold. It's the triple cork, which hadn't been done in competition until this year, when Ayumu Hirano landed it at Dew Tour as part of a 1440. He landed it again at X Games, but both times he fell when attempting his next trick.

Ruka Hirano and Totsuka landed the trick at training camp in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, this fall. James seems to have the trick in his bag as well after spending time training at a private halfpipe in Europe this past year. White has suggested he has it, too, but he hasn't landed it that anyone knows of.

The men's halfpipe final promises to showcase some of the wildest progression snowboarding has seen. Be sure to tune in at 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday.

                

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.

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