Twelve men will compete for Olympic gold in the final of the men's halfpipe on Friday, which is one of 11 snowboarding events at Milano Cortina 2026.
We take a look at the history of the men's halfpipe, how it works, and who will be aiming for gold in Friday's final.
Schedule
Qualifying for the men's halfpipe final took place on Wednesday, 11th February, with Scotty James of Australia topping the list of 12 qualifiers.
The final of the men's halfpipe competition will be staged on Friday 13th February.
The event starts at 13:30 ET (19:30 local time).
Venue
All 11 snowboarding events at Milano Cortina 2026 will be held at the Livigno Snow Park in the town of Livigno in the Italian Alps.
History of men's halfpipe
First staged at Nagano 1998, the men's halfpipe competition has been an ever-present on the Winter Olympic schedule over the last 28 years, and US success has become commonplace.
Swiss boarder Gian Simmen took the gold in Japan with American Ross Powers filling the bronze medal position, and Powers would return to the Olympics four years later to take the halfpipe crown in Salt Lake City.
Powers' gold medal ushered in a period of US dominance that was mainly down to one man: the iconic Shaun White.
Nicknamed the Flying Tomato, White won his first Olympic gold at Turin 2006, then he did the double in Canada four years later – the first of his two final runs was good enough for the gold, but he was still able to improve on it with a double McTwist 1260 in run two.
White was dethroned by Switzerland's Iouri Podladtchikov at Sochi 2014, but he came back to regain Olympic gold in South Korea in 2018, pulling off remarkable back-to-back 1440s to pip Ayumu Hirano of Japan in his final run.
His career would come to an end with fourth place in Beijing in 2022, as Hirano became the first Japanese rider, male or female, to capture Olympic snowboarding gold.
How it works
Competitors snowboard down a semi-cylindrical slope. The goal is to achieve big air and land difficult tricks in order to impress the six-person judging panel.
Riders will be judged on five components: amplitude, difficulty, execution, progression and variety. They are scored from 0-100 for each run and it is a case of best individual score wins rather than a combined total of more than one score.
In qualifying, riders are afforded just two chances to impress the judges, but the top 12 who will take to the pipe for the men's final will have three runs to lay down the biggest possible scores.
Team USA Medal prospects
After completing a 94.00 opening run in qualifying, Australia's Scotty James is the betting favorite as he seeks to win Olympic gold for the first time in his sixth appearance in the final of the men's halfpipe.
James, who won the bronze medal in 2018 and silver in 2022, arrived in Italy in fine form, defending his World Cup title in Laax and capturing an eighth X Games gold.
His biggest challenge appears likely to come from a four-man Japanese contingent led by Yuto Totsuka and also featuring defending champion Hirano.
Unlike previous Olympics, the US team is not quite as strong, although there are still three Americans in the final, with 17-year-old Alessandro Barbieri perhaps the most interesting.
Barbieri, who qualified with an 88.50, has landed on the World Cup podium on more than one occasion and has drawn praise from White for his performances, although he is one to watch with future Olympics in mind.
He will be joined on the startlist by one-time X Games bronze medalist Chase Josey and Jake Pates, who is competing in his second Olympics, having finished eighth in 2018.
Men's Snowboard Halfpipe Final Odds
Scotty James | -400 |
|---|---|
Yuto Totsuka | +800 |
Ryusei Yamada | +1200 |
Ruka Hirano | +1400 |
Ayumu Hirano | +1600 |
Valentino Guseli | +2000 |
Alessandro Barbieri | +2800 |
Campbell Melville Ives | +3300 |
Chase Josey | +6600 |
Chaeun Lee | +6600 |
Jake Pates | +8000 |
Ziyang Wang | +8000 |
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time
