Snowboarding superstars Scotty James and Yuto Totsuka are quite rightly among the hot favourites for halfpipe gold this week — but write off veteran Shaun White at your peril.
That’s the view of BBC snowboard expert Ed Leigh, who reckons the 35-year-old three-time Olympic gold medallist will still have plenty of sway at his fifth and final Winter Games.
“Never, ever write off Shaun White,” said Leigh. “Technically, he’s not quite there, but his consistency and his experience means his presence alone at the top of that halfpipe will put enough pressure on the rest of the athletes and make them think.
“His presence will be enough that he is very much in the mix for a medal.
“Whether it’s a gold will be a big ask.
“He got pushed to his outer limits to take gold in Pyeongchang and there are younger, more explosive riders coming through.
“Pound for pound, there are five, maybe six riders in the mix and it means you have this wonderful narrative.
“We have the technical brilliance of the three Japanese riders — the two brothers, Ayumu and Kaishu Hirano, and Yuto Totsuka — who have all mastered the Triple Cork.
“Scotty James, the veteran Australian… he has spent millions, I’d imagine it’s millions of Red Bull’s money, on a private halfpipe on a Swiss glacier and he came out of this hibernation for the X Games a couple of weeks ago and beat the Japanese even when they used the Triple.
“James, who could have been a Shakespearean tragedy of a snowboarder, in that he utterly dominated nearly two years of snowboard competition from late 2018 to early 2020, he won every competition but then Totsuka got the better of him.
“But then somehow the graft has meant he has fought his way back into this fight and it’s an even battle now.
“Then you have the last hurrah of White.
“Of all the events this is the one I’m looking forward to most.
“Pyeongchang, without doubt, was the best men’s snowboard competition I have ever watched.
“But this has the potential to be even better.”
White won his first Olympic gold in Turin in 2006 and his third, in dramatic fashion, in Pyeongchang four years ago.
After his success in Italy 16 years ago, he went on to become the most recognisable face in men’s snowboarding for a generation and more.
The men’s halfpipe qualifying rounds begin in the early hours of Tuesday morning UK time with the final set to take place on Thursday.
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