Shaun White snags place in Copper Mountain halfpipe finals

Three-time Olympic gold medal winner and snowboard legend Shaun White began his halfpipe season Thursday with a fifth-place qualifying finish at the U.S. Grand Prix stop in Copper Mountain, Colorado -- where Japanese riders and Spanish four-time Olympian Queralt Castellet had impressive days.

3 minBy Jonah Fontela

Shaun White at Copper Mountain (Mike Dawsy)

USA’s snowboard legend Shaun White began his Olympic season with a fifth-place finish in his qualifying heat at the U.S. Grand Prix stop at Copper Mountain, Colorado. His 83.00 score across two runs was enough to see him book a place in this weekend’s finals as one of the top-five athletes from the two men’s heats.

Following up on a lengthy snowboard hiatus after winning his third Olympic gold medal at PyeongChang 2018, White is eager as ever to add a fourth gold to his trophy cabinet at the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

READ | Most Asked Questions of Shaun White

“It's so exciting. I can't believe we're even here doing this right now,” White said back in October at a U.S. team media summit, heading into yet another Olympic-year cycle. “I've definitely got my eye on the prize for this one. But I will admit, it is getting harder."

Considered the best-ever purveyor of the men’s halfpipe, White’s icon-status is safe. And at the age of 35 his competitive juices are still flowing as he takes aim at further glory in the People’s Republic of China this February.

The USA snowboarding team will be announced on or before 21 January 2022.

White can help his chances and hone his skills in this weekend's final round at Copper Mountain. He'll also be aiming to knock off some of the rust in the two upcoming halfpipe events on the winter tour, including the Dew Tour stop from 16-18 December and the U.S. Grand Prix event at Mammoth Mountain, California from 6-8 January at the start of next year.

It was an impressive day for Japanese riders in the men's qualifiers as heat one was won by Yuto Totsuka with Raibu Katayama in the runner-up position. Third-place was sealed by Josey Chase of USA (with fellow American Taylor Gold in fourth)

Two Hiranos (Ruka and Ayumu), also of Japan, finished first and second in the men’s heat two, with Swiss Patrick Burgener following up in third (with two more Swiss riders in fourth and fifth).

Four-time Olympian Castellet goes big

In the women’s halfpipe qualifiers, earlier in the day, Cal Xuetong of the People’s Republic of China topped heat one with a best score of 90.33, followed by the Japanese pair Tomita Sena and Ono Mitsuka in second and third respectively.

The best American finisher in heat one of the women’s halfpipe was Zoe Kalapos who came in fifth, six spots ahead of USA teammate Summer Fenton.

In heat two of the women’s pipe, a huge first run from last year’s Copper Mountain winner Queralt Castellet (94.33) was enough for the 32-year-old Spaniard and four-time Olympian to seal top spot, with Elizabeth Hosking of Canada and Japan’s Haruna Matsumoto coming up behind in the second and third positions.

The U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain begins its final stages on Saturday (11 December) with the men’s and women’s snowboard halfpipe event finals.

Field for men's final (halfpipe)