American superstar Shaun White will look to put on a show as the snowboarding legend competes for his fourth gold medal in the men's halfpipe on Thursday night. The San Diego native won his first gold for Team USA at Turin in 2006 and defended his title at Vancouver in 2010. He was a disappointing fourth in Sochi but comes in as the reigning gold medalist after reclaiming the title at Pyeongchang in 2018. He has said Beijing 2022 will be his final competition, and the 35-year-old rebounded from a fall on his first run in Tuesday's qualifying to reach the final. He can draw confidence from the performance of Team USA's Lindsey Jacobellis, who won women's snowboard cross gold at age 36 on Wednesday morning.
The men's snowboard halfpipe medal competition is set to begin at 8:30 p.m. ET, with final runs scheduled for 9:30. White is the top American at +500 in the latest 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics men's halfpipe odds. He is the fourth choice behind Japanese favorite Ayumu Hirano (+250), his countryman Yuto Totsuka (+300) and Australian Scotty James (+350).
Thursday's 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics schedule also includes women's 5,000-meter speed skating (7 a.m. ET) and the luge mixed team relay (8:30 a.m.). There are also finals in Alpine combined skiing men's slalom (1:15 a.m. ET) and men's snowboard cross (2:20 a.m.) among the other medal events. Before you lock in any of your Beijing Olympics 2022 picks or predictions, you need to see what SportsLine's Olympics expert, Mike Tierney, has to say.
A national sportswriter whose work appears in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, Tierney has covered nine Olympic Games in person. For Rio in 2016, Tierney profited big-time. He told readers to bet the Over on Team USA's gold medal count (41.5) and Over on Team USA's overall medal count (102.5). The result? 46 golds, 121 medals and two easy cashes.
For the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Tierney hit two of his three predictions: Germany (+200) to win the most gold medals and the United States winning Under 10.5 gold medals (+110). And at last year's Tokyo Games, he correctly predicted the United States would go Over 111.5 total medals (-110).
Now, Tierney has analyzed the events for Thursday, Feb. 10 at Beijing 2022 and identified three best bets. You can visit SportsLine now to see all of his Beijing 2022 picks and Winter Olympic predictions.
Top Beijing Winter Olympics predictions for Thursday, Feb. 10
Tierney isn't going out on a limb with one of his predictions, but he is sure he will cash the ticket. He is strongly backing favored Germany to take another gold medal from the luge mixed team relay (-162). The Germans have won five of the nine medals awarded in the luge at Beijing 2022, and all three golds. Austria is the +163 second choice, but it has won just one silver and one bronze and finished more than a half-second behind two German teams in the men's doubles event.
Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt won their third consecutive gold medal in men's doubles, with teammates Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken coming in less than a second behind. Wendl and Arlt are seeking a third straight medal in the mixed team relay, along with Natalie Geisenberger, while Johannes Ludwig aims for a second with that trio. Madeleine Egle is the only remaining slider from the Austria team that took bronze behind Germany and Canada in Pyeongchang.
How to make Beijing Winter Olympics picks
Tierney also has his pick for White's run at another gold medal in the men's halfpipe, as well as a prediction for the women's 5,000-meter speed skating. Both plays would pay off at more than 3-1. He's only sharing those picks and his Winter Olympics 2022 predictions at SportsLine.
Will Shaun White get another gold in men's snowboarding halfpipe at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics? And which other high-value picks are must-backs at Beijing 2022? Visit SportsLine now to get Mike Tierney's predictions for the Beijing Winter Olympics, all from the renowned sportswriter who's covered nine Olympics in person and cashed big in 2016, '18 and '21, and find out.
