The men's halfpipe competition in snowboarding at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics was held on 9 February (qualification) and 11 February (final), at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou. Ayumu Hirano of Japan, the 2014 and 2018 silver medalist, won the gold, his third Olympic medal. Scotty James of Australia improved from the 2018 bronze to the 2022 silver. Jan Scherrer of Switzerland won the bronze, his first Olympic medal.
The field also included the defending champion, Shaun White, who won this event in 2006, 2010, and 2018. This was White's last Olympics as he announced his upcoming retirement before the games began. White qualified for the finals where he finished fourth, repeating his 2014 performance.
At the 2021–22 FIS Snowboard World Cup, only three halfpipe events were held before the Olympics. Ayumu Hirano was leading the ranking, followed by Ruka Hirano and Scherrer. Yūto Totsuka was the 2021 world champion, with James and Scherrer being the silver and bronze medalists, respectively. James was also the 2022 X-Games winner in super-pipe, ahead of Ayumu Hirano and Kaishu Hirano.
Qualification
A total of 25 snowboarders qualified to compete at the games. For an athlete to compete they must have a minimum of 50.00 FIS points on the FIS Points List on January 17, 2022 and a top 30 finish in a World Cup event or at the FIS Snowboard World Championships 2021. A country could enter a maximum of four athletes into the event.
Results Qualification Q — Qualified for the Final
The top 12 athletes in the qualifiers move on to the medal round.
Rank Bib Order Name Country Run 1 Run 2 Best Notes 1 3 1 Ayumu Hirano 87.25 93.25 93.25 Q 2 2 4 Scotty James 88.25 91.25 91.25 Q 3 5 2 Ruka Hirano 80.75 87.00 87.00 Q 4 9 23 Shaun White 24.25 86.25 86.25 Q 5 14 9 Valentino Guseli 31.75 85.75 85.75 Q 6 1 3 Yūto Totsuka 84.50 12.00 84.50 Q 7 8 20 Taylor Gold 81.25 83.50 83.50 Q 8 4 5 Jan Scherrer 73.50 79.25 79.25 Q 9 13 11 Kaishu Hirano 74.75 77.25 77.25 Q 10 6 16 André Höflich 75.00 17.75 75.00 Q 11 7 19 Patrick Burgener 70.75 73.00 73.00 Q 12 11 25 Chase Josey 15.75 69.50 69.50 Q 13 19 15 Louie Vito 60.25 3.25 60.25 14 21 7 Gu Ao 50.25 58.50 58.50 15 16 17 Seamus O'Connor 57.00 10.25 57.00 16 22 18 Fan Xiaobing 39.00 44.00 44.00 17 12 14 Lucas Foster 42.00 21.50 42.00 18 25 8 Lee Chae-un 26.00 35.00 35.00 19 23 21 Lorenzo Gennero 34.75 2.00 34.75 20 17 13 Liam Tourki 25.50 11.50 25.50 21 15 22 Wang Ziyang 20.25 7.50 20.25 22 18 10 Tit Štante 18.25 5.75 18.25 23 20 12 Liam Gill 16.75 15.50 16.75 24 10 24 David Hablützel 15.50 14.00 15.50 25 24 6 Gao Hongbo 15.00 DNS 15.00
Final Rank Bib Order Name Country Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Best Notes 3 12 Ayumu Hirano 33.75 91.75 96.00 96.00 2 11 Scotty James 16.50 92.50 47.75 92.50 4 5 Jan Scherrer 70.50 87.25 7.50 87.25 4 9 9 Shaun White 72.00 85.00 14.75 85.00 5 8 6 Taylor Gold 81.75 25.00 20.00 81.75 6 14 8 Valentino Guseli 75.75 79.75 79.75 79.75 7 11 1 Chase Josey 62.50 23.00 79.50 79.50 8 6 3 André Höflich 13.25 76.00 50.00 76.00 9 13 4 Kaishu Hirano 75.50 37.75 15.75 75.50 10 1 7 Yūto Totsuka 62.00 69.75 26.50 69.75 11 7 2 Patrick Burgener 54.50 5.75 69.50 69.50 12 5 10 Ruka Hirano 13.00 11.75 9.25 13.00
Controversy During Ayumu Hirano's second finals run, he completed a "spectacular frontside triple cork to become the first person to land the trick at an Olympics." NBC commentator Todd Richards, a former snowboarder, immediately announced that "no one will touch that run tonight... that is going to be a 98." He would go on to add, "He destroyed this halfpipe. That run was something that we may never see again from anyone else. Unbelievable. Level raised. By such a large margin. They are going to give him a score that is going to be just out of this world." However, judges scored the run a 91.75, leaving him in second behind Scotty James.
Immediately on-air, NBC's Richards blasted the judges, proclaiming “Ahhh what? What? Is there a mistake? There's no way, there is no way. A 91.75? ...as far as I'm concerned, the judges just grenaded all their credibility." He went on to add, "It's unbelievable that this is even happening. It's a travesty to be completely honest with you. I am irate right now. Someone call the authorities, there's been a robbery." People online began to dub this controversy "triple-gate". X games silver medalist Nikko Landeros tweeted that Hirano "just got robbed... this should never happen in the Olympics... what a disgrace." Ultimately, Hirano secured the gold medal on his third run by scoring a 96.00 by performing a triple cork and a 1440.
References