Aside from Shaun White, Greg Bretz is the only other American who has competed in men’s halfpipe at the past two Olympics. Both times, the Mammoth Lakes product made the final and finished in 12th.

Bretz first discovered snowboarding when he was five after his father took a job at Mammoth Mountain and moved there with him from Anaheim, California. Over the last decade, he has landed on the podium at a number of major events. One of his signature moments was winning the 2013 Dew Tour, an event that doubled as an Olympic qualifier, and becoming the first person to beat White at a halfpipe contest in nearly four years. Bretz went on to earn his first X Games medal, a bronze, one month later.