LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Defending Olympic halfpipe champion Ayumu Hirano qualified for the men’s final on Wednesday, less than a month after the Japanese rider injured his face and pelvis in a nasty fall.
Hirano had the seventh-best score, advancing to Friday’s final as one of the top 12 riders. The other favorites at the Milan Cortina Games also advanced.
Scotty James, the silver medalist behind Hirano at the 2022 Beijing Games, led qualifying with a run worth 94.00 points. Hirano posted a score of 85.50.
Yuto Totsuka, this year’s second-ranked rider, had the second-best score, followed by another Japanese rider, Ryusei Yamada.
Seventeen-year-old Alessandro Barbieri of the United States had the fourth best score. Team USA’s Chase Josey and Jake Pates squeaked into the final in 11th and 12th.
A fourth Japanese rider, Ruka Hirano, unrelated to Ayumu, was fifth.
The 27-year-old Ayumu Hirano added the gold medal in 2022 to two silvers he had won previously.
Last month, he suffered multiple fractures and bruising to his face when he slammed into the halfpipe while competing in Switzerland.
In halfpipe, snowboarders zoom down and up an inclined slope to gather speed before launching into a series of acrobatic jumps. The halfpipe at the Livigno ski resort hosting this year’s Olympic events measures 220 meters (240 yards) in length, 22 meters (24 yards) in width, and rises to 7.2 meters (23.6 feet) in height.
The riders made two trips down the course and were ordered based on their best run.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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