He retired from competition after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, but now he’s on a mission to transform the sport in a different way. He has founded a new tour for halfpipe snowboarders and freeskiers called The Snow League, debuting this weekend in Aspen, where he dominated the Winter X Games from 2003 to 2013.

En route to Aspen, he stopped in Denver to visit ����ö�������, a Thornton indoor action sports facility in which he is an investor.

“This is something I would have killed to have near my home when I was growing up, loving these sports — snowboarding, skateboarding,” said White, who grew up in San Diego. “I would be here every day.”

The 38,000-square-foot space features four “ski slopes” — inclined moving ramps — where people can learn to ski and snowboard year-round. It also has performance trampolines, a big-air jump with an airbag for landings and a skate park. It opened a year ago, eight years after owner Sadler Merrill opened a smaller version in Centennial.

“I’m so hyped to partner with ����ö�������,” White said. “We hope to build more in other cities.”

White emerged as a superstar who transcended his sport at the 2006 Winter Olympics with long-flowing red hair that earned him the nickname “The Flying Tomato” and made him a darling of NBC’s Olympic coverage.

His hair is short-cropped now, but he believes the new competition tour he founded will help the sport soar like never before. Until now, there was no organized tour, just scattered events with no coherent organization or method of determining a season champion.

“Within the sport, there’s always been a disconnected sort of feeling,” White said. “Then every four years when you wanted to go to the Olympics, all of sudden you have to do these other events that get you the points to (qualify for) the Olympics. It����ap really hard (for viewers) to figure out where to tune in, where to watch what����ap happening – and even just to follow along.”

White recalled a season when he was 16 years old and won every event he entered — halfpipe and slopestyle competitions — prompting an interviewer to ask him how it felt to be undefeated for an entire season and not be a world champion.

“That was a very clear picture of what was wrong,” White said. “What we’re trying to create is just like any other traditional sport, a centralized tour where you can come and see how everyone is doing and how it����ap progressing.”

White pointed to alpine skiing’s World Cup, an organized ski racing tour held in dozens of major ski areas around the world with weekly stops — including Beaver Creek every December — beginning in October and ending in March. Overall and discipline champions are crowned at the end of each season.

Some events on that tour are nearly 100 years old. The Hahnenkamm downhill race in Kitzbuehel, Austria, annually attracts crowds in excess of 50,000.

“When you look at the sport of downhill skiing, they have a lot of legendary events, and there are big prize purses,” White said. “Not that it����ap our sister sport, but it����ap also on the mountain, one run over. Why are we not curating the same experience and capturing the attention of major brands? We want to create that same excitement for freeski and snowboarding.”

Aspen marks the first stop of the tour. The next event will be held in China in December, followed by Aspen again next February — immediately following the Winter Olympics in Italy — and Switzerland in March. The event this weekend will involve snowboard halfpipe only, but freeski halfpipe will be added when the tour resumes in December.

Qualifying runs take place all day Friday at Buttermilk with quarterfinals, semifinals and finals following on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. Peacock will broadcast live, and NBC will rebroadcast on March 29.

Merrill, ����ö�������’s primary owner, was grateful that White dropped in (yes, that’s a snowboard pun) to visit his investment and bring some attention to it on the way to Aspen.

“The awareness that Shaun can bring with his massive following, his credibility, his experience as the GOAT in the industry, I think it����ap a credibility signifier for our customers,” Merrill said. “Shaun is not an investor/ambassador that just puts his name on the website. He really wants to roll up his sleeves; he really wants to shepherd in the next level of skier-snowboarder action sports participants. He really believes in our mission of inspiring a life of adventure.”

The Snow League announced the remainder of its four-stop, opening-season schedule Monday, which includes a trip in December to the Secret Garden snowpark in Zhangjiakou, China, followed by a return to Aspen in February 2026, then the season finale in Laax, Switzerland, after next year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics.

The opener is set for March 7-8 at Buttermilk outside of Aspen.

White’s final run came at Secret Garden, where the three-time gold medalist finished fourth to cap off his fifth Olympics on an emotional day on the halfpipe.

After retiring, he set out to create a league that would bring together the world’s top riders, whose sport has long lacked a well-defined circuit and has also struggled to offer top prize money at many of its marquee events.

The Snow League is offering a $1.6 million prize pool, with $370,000 for each event and $160,000 to the league’s champions after all four events.

Defending Olympic champion and top-ranked Ayumu Hirano is invited to compete in next week’s 16-man contest, along with his younger brother, Kaishu. Also invited is second-ranked Ruka Hirano, who is not related to the brothers, along with Americans Chase Josey and Chase Blackwell.

The women’s contest is scheduled to include Olympic silver and bronze medalists Queralt Castellet and Sena Tomita along with Americans Maddie Mastro and Maddy Schaffrick.

In a unique twist, the finals of the league’s events will be head-to-head, best-of-3 bracket-style tournaments in which riders will have to drop in from both sides of the halfpipe on their first two runs.

Freeskiing on the halfpipe will be added to The Snow League starting with the event in China, though no names have yet been publicized for those contests.

At the Beijing Olympics, Eileen Gu won medals in all three freeskiing disciplines — gold in halfpipe and Big Air and silver in slopestyle.

White announced earlier this year that , a four-stop circuit that will feature halfpipe snowboarding and freeskiing. On Tuesday, the league and NBC revealed that the first event is set for March 7-8 in Aspen, with the rest of the schedule still to be announced.

White plans on getting 20 men and 16 women in each contest for a prize pool of more than $1.5 million over the first season. A list of athletes who have committed to the league is expected later this year.

The debut in Aspen will come 11 months before the start of the Winter Olympics in Italy, also set to be carried by NBC.

White, a three-time Olympic gold medalist who retired after the 2022 Games in Beijing, said a key reason for starting the league was to bring together the world’s top action-sports stars, who often divide time between a number of circuits, including the Dew Tour and stops on the Grand Prix and X Games tours.

“In the end, we really want to be that premier thing, where it����ap amazing to go to the Olympics and win a medal, but this is like winning Wimbledon or the NBA finals. It����ap almost more prestigious,” White said in an interview earlier this year.

On Monday, ����ö������� announced a deal with , a new business that aims to expand access to youth sports through camps, leagues and more. Unrivaled Sports invested money to become a minority owner in ����ö�������, though it expects to become a majority owner as the company expands, a spokesperson said.

Unrivaled Sports was founded by billionaires Josh Harris and David Blitzer, who manage teams in the National Basketball Association (Philadelphia 76ers) and the National Hockey League (New Jersey Devils), among others. Pro snowboarder Shaun White is one of the company’s partners under its “action sports” division.

The hallmark of ����ö������� is its facilities and equipment that help beginners learn how to ski and ride on the mountain – no snow required. Venues also include jumps and obstacles for BMX and skateboard training.

����ö������� opened its first location in Centennial in 2016 and its second in Thornton earlier this year. Founder Sadler Merrill is expected to remain with the company.

Unrivaled Sports’ investment is intended to expand ����ö������� beyond the Rocky Mountain region. It����ap too early for the company to determine exactly where, but Texas and California are likely at the top of the list, Kevin English, Unrivaled Sports’ Action CEO, said by email.

“����ö������� is revolutionizing how young athletes engage with action sports year-round,” White said in a statement. “This investment isn’t about adding facilities; it����ap about breaking down the barriers to these sports, wherever you are located. It����ap about cultivating passion and skill in a whole new generation of athletes.”

There was no doubt about the winner after Hirano’s electric performance as the last rider to go. His run included an intricate and unprecedented series of flips and spins that pushed a sport obsessed with progression to new heights. His score of 96 reflected that and the two-time Olympic silver medalist moved past Scotty James of Australia, who scored 92.50. Jan Scherrer of Switzerland took bronze.

White finished in fourth place as he fell on the final run of a career that’s seen the American star win three Olympic titles. He lifted up his goggles and waved to the crowd on his way down the halfpipe. He teared up as the sparse crowd bid adieu to the 35-year-old and fellow riders lined up to hug him.

“I wanted it,” White said. “My legs were giving out on me every hit.”

The stage was being set for some controversy after the second run. James took over the lead with his second attempt. Hirano followed with an impressive run that included the difficult-to-do triple cork but wasn’t rewarded by the judges. The crowd booed and social media was buzzing.

“I know when I’ve seen the best run that����ap ever been done in the halfpipe. … It����ap a travesty to be completely honest with you. I’m irate,” NBC snowboard analyst Todd Richards said. “What����ap the point of doing the triple cork, this most dangerous of dangerous tricks if you’re not getting rewarded?”

Hirano went out and did the trick again — ever better this time.

“Justice,” Richards said.

When his skates touched down for the final time in a historic arena in Beijing, he was an Olympic gold medalist.

Up at Genting Snow Park, Chloe Kim nailed all five jumps on her first run through the Secret Garden Olympic halfpipe, enough for her to easily defend her Olympic title on Thursday.

It was the United States’ best day yet at the Beijing Games. The United States also won gold in the Olympics’ first mixed team aerials event, giving it a total of four gold medals and 10 overall.

Chen, whose parents immigrated from China, had a memorable free skate to finally put behind him the immense disappointment from four years ago, when a nightmarish short program in South Korea dashed his medal hopes.

Skating his “Rocketman” program set to the film score by Elton John, the 22-year-old Chen landed all five of his quads to leave no question he was the best in the world. He finished with 332.60 points, three off his own world record and 22 ahead of silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan. Shoma Uno of Japan took bronze.

“It means the world. I’m just so happy,” said Chen, who was relaxed and expressive throughout his routine.

Chen, who is from Salt Lake City, took off with an opening quad salchow. He effortlessly landed four more quads. He had a slight bobble on a late combination sequence.

When his scores were read, coach Rafael Arutyunyan raised Chen’s left arm like a championship boxer.

In the Capital Indoor Stadium, where the United States and China played the first matches of the pingpong diplomacy in 1971, Chen made some history of his own by capping one of the most dominant four-year runs in skating history. Since his disappointment in Pyeongchang, Chen has won three straight world championships — the 2020 competition was canceled because of the pandemic — and extended his run of national championships to six.

Chen is the first American figure skating champion since Evan Lysacek in 2010.

KIM’S CORONATION

Chloe Kim was so good on her first run down the halfpipe that it didn’t matter that she failed to land a big trick on her last run, aka the victory lap. The 21-year-old, who started snowboarding as a kid in Southern California, became the first woman to win consecutive Olympic titles on the halfpipe.

The last rider into the halfpipe on the first run, Kim landed all five jumps, including a front and backside 1080 — three spins each — and a 900. She seemed to amaze even herself, twice putting her hands to her head at the end of the run, which earned a score of 94.

Kim had struggled in practice before the competition began.

“I was just so proud of myself. I had the worst practice ever,” she said. “I probably landed my run twice when I’m used to landing it eight times. That kind of puts you in a weird headspace.”

IOC President Thomas Bach and China’s superstar freestyle skier Eileen Gu were in the crowd. Gu even hugged Kim between runs.

Queralt Castellet of Spain took the silver medal in her fifth Olympics. Sena Tomita of Japan held off Cai Xuetong of China for bronze.

Shaun White will try for his second straight halfpipe gold medal and fourth overall on Friday in his fifth and final Olympics. Kim joined White as the only snowboarders to win back-to-back halfpipe golds. White did it in 2006 and 2010. After finishing fourth in Sochi, the 35-year-old from Carlsbad, California, returned to the top of the podium in 2018.

SHIFFRIN RESETS

The U.S. ski team said two-time Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin will compete in the super-G on Friday. Shiffrin failed to finish both the giant slalom and slalom, missing a gate within seconds of starting each race.

She had two training runs on the super-G course Thursday. The 26-year-old from Colorado never has entered a super-G at an Olympics but did win it at the 2019 world championships.

“I will try to reset again, and maybe try to reset better this time,” Shiffrin said after the slalom. “But I also don’t know how to do better because,” she continued, before pausing, “because I just don’t.”

Shiffrin is trying to become the first Alpine ski racer from the United States to win three Olympic golds across a career.

MIXED TEAM AERIALS

The American trio of Ashley Caldwell, Christopher Lillis and Justin Schoenefeld each earned their first Winter Games medals in mixed team aerials, the first time the United States medaled in the freestyle skiing discipline in a dozen years. Lillis’ back double full-full-double full was given the highest score of any trick in the finals, and the U.S. title was assured when Schoenefeld followed with a clean back double full-full-full.

FOLLOWING HIS FATHER

Austrian skier Johannes Strolz won the Olympic gold medal in the Alpine combined race 34 years after his father, Hubert, did the same.

The 29-year-old Strolz was fourth fastest after the downhill run, but he was half a second quicker than anyone else in the slalom. He edged first-run leader Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway by 0.58 seconds. Jack Crawford of Canada took bronze.

The combined adds the times from one downhill run and one slalom run.

Hubert Strolz won gold in combined at the 1988 Calgary Olympics and the silver in the giant slalom.

“It����ap really a great moment for me and I’m so thankful that I finally can live my dream and have this gold medal in my hands like my father did in 1988 in Calgary and, yeah, just a dream come true,” Strolz said. “The gold medal really means the world to me.”

DOPING REPORT

Russian figure skating superstar Kamila Valieva practiced as usual, hours after reports surfaced that she had tested positive for a banned substance.

The 15-year-old Valieva, who was expected to deliver her nation its third straight Olympic gold medal in women’s figure skating, tested positive for a banned heart medication before the Beijing Games, the Russian newspaper RBC reported.

Valieva scored maximum points in the women’s individual sections of the team event, which the Russians skaters won.

The International Skating Union declined to address the reports, saying it “cannot disclose any information about any possible anti-doping rule violation.”

The showdown between those two Alpine skiing stars highlights Day 4 of the Beijing Games, which also includes qualifying runs for Shaun White and Chloe Kim, the start of snowboardcross coverage and the first curling medals of these Olympics.

Here are some things to watch (all times Eastern):

SLALOM SHOWDOWN

Shiffrin won the slalom at the 2014 Games and is a four-time world champion in the event. Vlhova, however, has a big lead in the World Cup slalom standings this season, after Shiffrin was slowed by contracting the coronavirus.

A bad turn in the giant slalom Monday knocked the American star out of that event on the opening run. Vlhova, of Slovakia, finished 14th.

“Something was missing, and I was a bit in trouble with the conditions,” Vlhova said. “I tried to do my best, but it was not enough.”

NBC plans to show the women’s slalom live as part of its prime-time and late-night coverage Tuesday.

SNOWBOARD STARS

Shiffrin’s rough start was a downer for the U.S., but now it����ap time for a couple other American standouts to begin competing. Shaun White, the three-time gold medalist who said recently the Beijing Games would be his last competition, begins qualifying for the halfpipe. So does Chloe Kim, who, like White is a defending champion in that event.

“I really want to finish my career strongly on my own terms and put down some solid runs,” White said. “If I could do that, I’ll be very happy.”

NBC is carrying women’s qualifying live in prime time and the men live in its late-night slot. USA Network will also have live coverage of women’s halfpipe.

The chaotic, high-flying snowboardcross also begins with the women’s competition. Lindsey Jacobellis, who missed out on gold in 2006 when she fell after grabbing her board in premature celebration, is still chasing an Olympic title.

NBC is carrying snowboardcross qualifying during its late-night coverage, and USA Network plans to air the qualifying and final rounds live. The final isn’t expected to start until well after 2 a.m.

CURLING

The mixed doubles competition wraps up when Italy faces Norway for the gold medal. USA Network is set to air that at 1 p.m. CNBC will show the bronze medal game between Sweden and Britain at 5 p.m. and the gold medal game at 8.

Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini have already clinched Italy’s first-ever Olympic curling medal by reaching the final.

“That feels great,” coach Claudio Pescia said. “Not only that we have a medal, but the performance these two athletes made this week is amazing.”

LUGE

Germany’s Natalie Geisenberger is trying for her third consecutive gold medal in singles luge. USA Network will show the final run live in the morning, with an encore presentation by NBC in the afternoon.

Geisenberger can become the first three-time women’s singles gold medalist in Olympic history.

ALSO OF NOTE

Norwegian cross-country skiing star Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo finished 40th in the skiathlon, but he has another medal shot in the sprint. USA Network will have the men’s and women’s sprints live in the morning, with NBC showing them in the afternoon and USA Network showing them again in the 7:30 p.m.-2:55 a.m. time slot … NBC will air the final of men’s freestyle skiing Big Air live in prime time. … American speedskater Joey Mantia competes in the 1,500 meters. USA Network will air that between 9:20 a.m. and 1 p.m., and again later. NBC is showing it in prime time.

The Centennial State will have 23 athletes, by their recognized hometowns, according to the United State Olympic and Paralympic Committee. It is tied for the second biggest contingent with Minnesota and behind only California (29).

Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin, of Edwards, is the most decorated among the Colorado crew, having won two gold medals (slalom in 2014 and giant slalom in 2018) and a silver (combined in 2018). The two golds are tied for the most all-time among American Alpine racers.

Vail-born skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender will be competing in her fifth Olympic Games, tied for the most on the Americans with Lindsey Jacobelis, John Shuster and Shaun White.

Silverthorne’s Red Gerard returns for his second Olympic Games. In 2018, he became the youngest winter Olympian to win a gold medal at the age of 17, after capturing the slopestyle title in snowboarding. Goaltender Nicole Hensley, of Littleton, will again mind the net as the U.S. women’s hockey team looks to defend its gold. Aspen native Alex Ferriera won silver in the freestyle ski halfpipe in 2018. Alex Deibold won bronze in the snowboard cross in 2014.

Nordic combined racer Taylor Fletcher, of Steamboat Springs, is competing in his fourth straight Olympics, while Aaron Blunck, of Crested Butte, is going to his third. Other Coloradans returning for their second Games, include Taylor Gold (2014), Mick Dierdorff (2018), Alex Deibold (2014), Hagen Kearney (2018), Jasper Good (2018) and Joanne Reid (2018).

Here’s a look at the list of Colorado athletes, including ones not officially listed by the USOC:

Alpine skiing

• Nina O’Brien, Denver
• River Radamus, Edwards
• Mikaela Shiffrin, Edwards

Biathlon

• Joanne Reid, Grand Junction

Bobsled

• Sylvia Hoffman, Colorado Springs

Cross country skiing

• Hailey Swirbul, Aspen

Figure skating

• Mariah Bell, Monument
• Brandon Frazier, Colorado Springs

Freestyle skiing

• Aaron Blunck, Crested Butte
• Alex Ferreira, Aspen
• Hanna Faulhaber, Basalt
• Birk Irving, Winter Park
• Kai Owens, Vail
• Dylan Walczyk, Blue River

Hockey

• Nicole Hensley, Littleton
• Nick Shore, Denver

Nordic combined

• Taylor Fletcher, Steamboat Springs
• Jasper Good, Steamboat Springs

Skeleton

• Katie Uhlaender, Breckenridge

Snowboarding

• Chris Corning, Silverthorne
• Alex Deibold, Boulder
• Mick Dierdorff, Steamboat Springs
• Lucas Foster, Telluride

• Stacy Gaskill, Golden
• Red Gerard, Silverthorne
• Taylor Gold, Steamboat Springs
• Zoe Kalapos, Vail
• Hagen Kearney, Norwood
• Cody Winters, Steamboat Springs

Grand Prix will host halfpipe skiers and snowboarders from Dec. 9-11. The event will be followed by Dew Tour, which takes place from Dec. 16-19 and features halfpipe and slopestyle competitions as well as men’s and women’s snowboard adaptive competitions and a nighttime street-style jam session.

According to a release from Dew Tour, Olympic snowboarders Shaun White, Julia Marino and Silverthorne local Red Gerard are scheduled to compete in the Winter Dew Tour along with skiers Maggie Voisin, Alex Hall and Alex Ferreira.

Before the resort opens for the winter season Nov. 22, it will host Alpine ski race training in mid-October, including the opening of the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center. University teams, the U.S. men’s and women’s Alpine ski teams, and national teams from Austria, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and Slovenia will be at Copper for training.

The high-profile training and Olympic qualifying events play into Copper’s new branding as “the athlete’s mountain.”

Read the full story from our partner at .

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Skateboarders have taken over Middle America this week. It����ap a dress rehearsal for this summer, when they’ll bring their show to the rest of the world at the Olympics.

The questions under the magnifying glass at this week’s Dew Tour — one of the last major qualifying events for the Tokyo Games in July — are whether the Olympics is ready for skateboarding and, more tellingly, whether skateboarding is ready for the Olympics.

“That����ap the beautiful thing about skateboarding,” said Mariah Duran, a 24-year-old from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who is one of a handful of U.S. medal hopefuls. “It takes you places you’ve never been.”

More than 20 years after its wintertime cousin, snowboarding, reluctantly took to the biggest stage in sports, skateboarding is grinding its way into the much more crowded summer program. It����ap one of a number of attempts by the International Olympic Committee — surfing, rock climbing and 3-on-3 basketball are also debuting in Tokyo — to appeal to a younger, trendier, more easily distracted audience.

Whether any of this is truly “saving” the Olympics for the next generation is a matter of opinion. Viewership numbers — many proprietary, most skewed by the online fragmentation of the audience and all of them open to manipulation to tell whatever story might fit the narrative — indicate the games still have issues with the in-demand 18-to-34 market. (That puts them in good company: The NFL and MLB and pretty much anything aired on TV are also doing worse in that demographic over the past decade.)

Regardless of whether either side enjoys a boost from this new partnership, suffice it to say that none of it would’ve happened without the 1998 introduction of snowboarding to the Olympics. Despite its now-veteran status in the games, the so-called shredders still get treated like the shiny new thing on the shelf every four years. And while the entire sport has prospered over the two decades, snowboarding has delivered only two athletes the average person might recognize on the street: Shaun White and Chloe Kim.

But lots of folks just beneath that level — Jamie Anderson, Red Gerard, Danny Davis and others — have made very good livings, as well. All of which has been enough to woo a big chunk of skateboarding’s elite into the Olympics without much hand-wringing.

“We’re like surfing or snowboarding, in that the competitors were pretty reluctant to join into something like that,” said one of skateboarding’s forefathers, 50-year-old Mike Vallely, who is helping call the action this week in Iowa. “But once Shaun White started having this great success, the kids coming up started seeing that as what is possible.”

Another conversation that enveloped snowboarding back in the day was whether competing for cash and fame fit into the overall ethos of the “lifestyle” sport that snowboarding wanted to be — a sport that valued fun and filming as much as money and medals. Skateboarders deal with that issue, as well, and some are just as good at threading that needle.

“You look at snowboarding and the way it is now, and I know they love to compete,” said 20-year-old Jagger Eaton, who is trying to qualify in both the park and street events being showcased at the games. “But they’ve also always loved being out on the (backcountry), and going out and filming projects. And they’ve shown they can do both.”

Said Dashawn Jordan, a football player-turned-skateboarder who is also aiming for Tokyo: “I was introduced to skateboarding through the competitive side. And then I found out a lot about what the other side of the sport looks like. I look at all the amazing people who try really hard to keep both factors in play.”

The most successful athlete in the current-day group is American Nyjah Huston, a 12-time X Games and five-time world champion who, in a sign of where the soul of this sport has already moved, includes a shoe deal with Nike among his cache of endorsements.

“I never put much thought into it being in the Olympics,” Huston said. “I was always confused about why it wasn’t in there, but at least it����ap in there now, and I’m hyped for it.”

There’s also, Sky Brown, the 12-year-old competing for her father’s home country of Britain who spent about half her time growing up in Japan, her mother’s native country and the place where all the action is happening this summer. She also surfs and recently took time off to star in, and win, “Dancing With The Stars: Juniors.”

As mass marketable as it might be, skateboarding still has some hurdles to climb. In Japan, skateboarding in broad daylight on a busy street is still frowned upon. It����ap not all that much different in some places in America.

“We didn’t start out as hoodlums or bad guys, but we came up against so much resistance and oppression,” Vallely said. “It spurred two different things. We wanted to promote skating, but also, there was pushback, and we weren’t afraid to say, ‘No, we’re not going take this.”

Josh Friedberg, the CEO of USA Skateboarding, dates some of this attitude back to a Life Magazine cover in 1965 that featured the girls national champion doing a handstand on a board, next to the headline: “The craze and the menace of skateboards.”

“It was immediately cast as something that����ap not good, and that carried on in different iterations through every decade,” Friedberg said.

If the Olympics might be viewed as offering some sort of mainstream seal of approval to a once-rebellious sport, what����ap left to be seen is whether the five rings will keep it fun or suck the life out of it. That, even two decades later, is a debate they’re still having about the superpipe in snowboarding.

However their show plays in Tokyo, skateboarders feel pretty good about their place in the sports world these days.

Des Moines spent more than a decade trying to get America’s largest open skate park built. The 88,000-foot venue opened this week for the Dew Tour. Leaders in the sport think the Olympics make it easier to build more like this in the future.

“I never needed the Olympics to justify skateboarding for me,” Vallely said. “But I sure get a lot of phone calls now. They see it����ap in the Olympics and they know I was involved in all this. I feel like I did some good work.”