Louri "iPod" Podladtchikov

Words & Photos by Jeff Baker

With one day to go before the mens halfpipe final, all the riders had one last session to tighten their skills before tomorrow's main event. With less than favorable snow and pipe conditions, practice has been limited to the only three days but tonight things seemed to come together and the pipe was in great shape. Thanks to some colder temps and some rain last night the walls were holding shape and riders were boosting. American favorite, Shaun White decided to rest up tonight and skip the practice session but that didn't stop Scotty Lago from coming out and riding hard. Louie Vito and Greg Bretz also looked strong all throwing double cork 1080's.

Some other stand-out riders included Japan's Ryo Aono, Kazuhiro Kokubo and Daisuke Murakami, France's Mathieu Crepel, Swiss riders Louri "iPod" Podladtchikov and Marcus Keller and Finland's Peetu Piiroinen. Tomorrow's final will undoubtedly be one of the exciting events all the Vancouver Games so check your local listings and listen to our own Todd Richards and Fuel TV's Pat Parnell call the shots for NBC.

Everyone stopped to watch Scotty Lago's runs.

Count on seeing Louie throw back to back double cork 1080's.

Japan took the phrase, "go big or go home" to a new level. Japan could be in contention for a medal.

Louri "iPod" Podladtchikov was going BIG.

Todd Richards give us a little sketch of his gold medal prediction.