It’s not overstating it to call the USA a Halfpipe superpower. Since 2002 they’ve won five of the six gold medals on offer and won two thirds of the available medals. This time around the two big favourites are American once more, Kelly Clark and Shaun White, but they’ll be facing an all out assault from around the world.

Shaun White’s aura of invincibility has faded in the last couple of years and both Ayumu Hirano and Iouri Podladchikov will be keen to prove that they’re more than just pretenders to the throne. The pair have got the tricks and it’ll be interesting to see Shaun White can match them after keeping competitions to a minimum in the past year. Kelly Clark has been pretty unstoppable amongst the female riders but will have to beat the reigning champion, Torah Bright, and Queralt Castellet, in a bid to win her second gold medal.