Winter Olympics 2026: Has the United States finally found the heir to Shaun White?

LIVIGNO, Italy — Shaun White didn’t just build a business empire on the back of Olympic medals, he practically built the entire sport of halfpipe into a worldwide phenomenon.

But when he retired from competitive snowboarding four years ago after the Beijing Games, there was one thing he hadn’t built: a bench of American stars ready to take his place.

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We’re about to find out if that’s on the verge of changing.

Alessandro Barbieri, a mere 17 years old, enters the men’s halfpipe finals Friday as the best American hope. He’s already being talked up as a future superstar in this event — including by White himself. If he continues on his current trajectory, it’s not a stretch to envision a gold medal around his neck in 2030 or 2034.

But is he ready to win it all now?

“Honestly, you never know if you’re really ready,” Barbieri said Wednesday night after qualifying with the fourth-highest score. “The only thing you can do is just land your tricks one by one. I don’t really think about if I could win because there have been a lot of times where I could have been on the podium or even won a World Cup and it didn’t go my way. You can never really think I’m supposed to do something. Nothing’s guaranteed in life.”

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That’s true, but Barbieri appears to be one of those jump-off-the-screen talents for whom it’s only a matter of time before it all comes together.

Need evidence?

Not only did Barbieri have to deal with the nerves of being in his first Olympics in the run-up to qualifying, he had to do it in the country where his parents were raised before moving to the U.S. in 2006 and where much of his extended family still lives.

But if Barbieri was feeling any added pressure, he didn’t show it, smoothly executing all five tricks of his first run to score 88.50, comfortably putting him in the finals.

“Let’s say what I really have in my head is a 10. That was more like a six,” Barbieri said, assessing his qualifying performance. “I have a lot more in the tank and I’m ready to show it to the public.”

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Yeah, the kid’s got some swagger, too.

But it’s well-earned.

After finishing second at the Youth Olympic Games a little more than two years ago, his career really started to take off. Last February, he made his first World Cup podium and has continued to put himself in the mix, showing it’s only a matter of time before he breaks through.

Will that happen at the Olympics?

Against a field headlined by Japan’s Ayumu Hirano and Australia’s Scotty James, who finished 1-2 at the last Olympics, it’s a tough ask. Between a handful of other Japanese and Australian riders, who are all at the top of their game right now, this is shaping up as arguably the toughest halfpipe field in Olympic history.

But in an interview last week with USA Today, White identified Barbieri as someone who could pull off a big upset, citing a recent event where he landed two triple corks in one run and compared him to a student cramming for a test.

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“He’s advancing, he’s making these tricks happen right up to the wire, but that could be the tipping point to have him succeed and hit the podium,” White said.

In his second qualifying run, which was ultimately irrelevant having already banked a high score, Barbieri could not quite put down a triple but knows against this field it’s going to be a requirement to have any shot.

“You’ll see it,” he promised.

Oozing charisma, Barbieri is only one big performance with lots of people watching from reaching a whole new level of stardom. But whether it happens Friday or four years from now, it appears Team USA might finally have someone capable of taking the halfpipe torch on the international stage after White’s retirement.

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“We need another guy like Shaun,” Barbieri said. “We have really good snowboarders. Obviously no one to his level and dominance, but we need the U.S. back on the podium to keep the lineage of the U.S. greatness alive.”