The best men’s halfpipe event ever showed Team USA has a long way to go

LIVIGNO, Italy – They’re already calling a spectacular men’s final at the 2026 Winter Olympics the greatest halfpipe display ever in snowboarding.

It’s just a shame Team USA can’t claim a bigger piece of it.

Three Americans in this final – Jake Pates, Alessandro Barbieri and Chase Josey – each had their moments. They each pulled off impressive tricks and produced at least one relatively clean run.

But none of the USA’s riders finished better than eighth out of 12, and that wasn’t a matter of it not being their night. It genuinely felt like the Americans – except for possibly the 17-year-old Barbieri – were outgunned from the start. Especially by the riders from Japan.

Were there any lingering doubts about the extent of the Japanese takeover of this event, this final should’ve cleared that up. Australian star Scotty James’ silver medal was all that kept Japan from sweeping the podium. Four of the top seven finishers were Japanese, and the lowest on that list – Ayumu Hirano in seventh – was the gold-medalist in 2022 in Beijing.

In 2026, Yuto Totsuka won with a 95, and Ryusei Yamada claimed bronze with a 92.

“Ayumu landed an incredible run that was probably better than his run in 2022 Beijing,” said Team USA’s Josey of Hirano’s 86.50. “It just goes to show that four years progression really goes fast.”

In the past four Olympics, Japan has six of 12 possible medals in men’s halfpipe. The U.S. has one – Shaun White’s gold from PyeongChang in 2018.

In 2030, it’ll be 20 years since any American other than White claimed any medal in men’s halfpipe. And it isn’t that the U.S. is getting worse at snowboarding. It’s that other nations are getting better a lot faster.

“It’s really just putting a run together with all of those tricks and pushing the amplitude, the style, the execution,” said Josey, who finished 11th at Livigno Snow Park. “It’s just a combination of all of those. So for the U.S. to get on that level? We’re not far behind, really. They are just so consistent and clutch. We’re pretty hot on their heels, and I think Alessandro is going to have his moment on the podium before we know it.”

Barbieri, clearly, is the brightest future hope for the U.S. in halfpipe. He finished fourth in qualifying to reach this Olympic final, and he opened with a 75 in his first run before failing to make it cleanly through his next two.

The difficulty was there. Barbieri didn’t back down. He went for it. That’s why he’ll have better Olympics ahead of him. He just couldn’t stay upright enough this time.

He was 10th in his first Olympic final – and he took the result hard.

“If I didn’t feel like I was up there (with the world’s best), I wouldn’t be bawling my eyes out,” Barbieri said. “… Obviously, if I would have landed my runs, I would have been probably up there. Good job to other guys who made it. Three of the very best. It was cool to watch.

“But, yeah, I’ll be back.”

Pates, in eighth place, was the USA’s highest finisher in this Olympics with a score of 77.50. He’s a great story. It’s remarkable to think someone who gave up snowboarding for about four years can jump back into it only recently and participate in an Olympic final like this.

But, hey, guess where Pates traveled last summer to get his form back so quickly?

Yup. Japan. “That’s the only way I’ve been able to come back and do this at all,” he said.

Basically, Pates said, the Japanese are putting more into the sport in different ways. There are gaps in funding and resources as well as the “dedication on the U.S. riders’ side of things, to be honest,’ he said.

“They’re just hungry,” Josey said of the Japanese riders, “and they know they have to ride hard to get the respect that they want. They’re just fired up, and they’re strong, and they are ready to push the limits beyond what’s been seen. That’s inspiring.

“Beyond that, they do have a really good airbag facility in Japan that’s next level. It’s like it mimics a halfpipe takeoff and landing. That’s something the U.S. doesn’t have right now.”

And in snowboarding’s marquee men’s event at the 2026 Olympics, a spectacularly entertaining, memorable evening that’ll reverberate through this sport for years, it was difficult to envision how the U.S. ever had much of a chance.

Reach sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@gannett.com and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social