Japan's Hiroto Ogiwara led all men's snowboard big air qualifiers Thursday night in Livigno in the first individual qualifying event of the Milan Cortina Olympics.
The two-time reigning Winter X Games champion combined a first-run switch backside 1980 (90.50) and a second-run backside 1800 (88.00) for a top score of 178.50.
His teammate Kira Kimura, 3rd behind Ogiwara at January's Winter X Games, posted the third-best total of the round, hitting a squeaky clean switch backside 1980 on his final run for a 173.25.
Seventeen-year-old American Ollie Martin also made the 12-rider cut with a clutch final run. The high school senior from Wolcott, Colorado, tallied an 82.25 on a massive frontside triple cork 1800 to total 167.50, which bumped teammate Red Gerard — who had already completed his three runs — out of 12th place and contention.
"I fell in the first run, so I put more pressure on the second run, but luckily I was able to put both of them down," Martin said. "I did both the tricks I planned to do tonight."
Gerard, who ultimately finished 20th, now sets his sights on slopestyle, his preferred event and the one in which he won 2018 Olympic gold at age 17.
"My goal is always to come out here and land runs, and I’m happy to say I landed three of them, so I’m happy," he said. "I’m psyched to go to slopestyle soon. … In a way, I feel like I’ve almost gone back to 2018, where I’m just trying to take this mellow approach to it and just focus on the snowboarding."
Gerard had high praise for Martin, too, calling him "a really good rider, very humble, very polite and nice."
"I can only wish the best for him," Gerard said. "It's exciting to watch him."
The event's defending Olympic champion from 2022, Su Yiming of China, fell on his first run but bounced back to record the round's fourth-best total, 172.75.
Su said he was very disappointed in himself after the first jump: "That trick is not one that I consider to be very difficult, but it’s what happens when you’re facing the pressure of an Olympic competition."
Host nation Italy's Ian Matteoli placed 2nd overall. The Italian posted the best individual run score of 93.75 on a beautiful switch backside 1980.
"Participating at home is a great emotion," Matteoli said after the competition. "It’s still difficult to realize that I’m living an Olympics at home, but I’m having a great time."
Martin and Gerard's fellow U.S. teammates Jake Canter and Sean FitzSimons placed 15th and 25th, respectively, not advancing.
Three-time Olympic medalist Mark McMorris of Canada missed the qualifying after taking a hard fall Wednesday in training. Earlier Thursday, he shared on Instagram that "things are looking up for slopestyle" and that he wants to "stay positive" and "shift focus to that event."
The big air and slopestyle events share the same pool of athletes.
The snowboard big air final takes place Saturday, Feb. 7, at 1:30 p.m. ET. You can watch it live on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
Men's snowboard big air qualifiers
- Hiroto Ogiwara, Japan (178.50)
- Ian Matteoli, Italy (174.50)
- Kira Kimura, Japan (173.25)
- Su Yiming, China (172.75)
- Taiga Hasegawa, Japan (172.25)
- Francis Jobin, Canada (170.75)
- Lyon Farrell, New Zealand (170.00)
- Rocco Jamieson, New Zealand (168.25)
- Ollie Martin, United States (167.50)
- Ryoma Kimata, Japan (164.75)
- Dane Menzies, New Zealand (164.00)
- Valentino Guseli, Australia (163.00)