Shaun White ‘thrilled’ by Snow League debut in Aspen, won by Japan’s Totsuka and Tomita

The Snow League’s world debut couldn’t have gone any better, if you ask founder Shaun White.

“Honestly, it’s better than I could ever have imagined,” the snowboard icon said Saturday from Buttermilk Ski Area. “The fans who came through are thrilled. I just feel like it was a home run, so I’m really thrilled. I don’t say it often, but I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished here today.”

A new kind of halfpipe contest, the Snow League is White’s brainchild and Aspen was given the first chance to showcase what he hopes will be the future of the sport. It took two long days of competition to determine the first Snow League winners — in this case, Japan’s Sena Tomita and Yuto Totsuka — and athletes weren’t shy about admitting how tired they were by the end.

But the stoke? Yeah, it was difficult to ignore.

“It’s a different atmosphere than what we’ve had in a while. We have people super excited to be here and cheering. That is an amazing thing,” said California’s Maddie Mastro, who finished second to Tomita on Saturday. “I’m excited about snowboarding, so having a place where everyone here is super excited about snowboarding is great. The fact that they’ve created that environment where there is so much excitement over snowboarding is super exciting and fun to be a part of.”

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When White spoke to the athletes during their introductory meeting on Thursday, the three-time Olympic gold medalist wanted it known he created this league for them. With insight from his own team and from the current riders, he also pulled from his own time as a competitive athlete to create a new kind of competition that could bring some life into a sport that has struggled to stay fresh in recent years.

The key component that separates the Snow League is its head-to-head approach to finals. The eight men and eight women who made it through qualifying on Friday were placed in a tournament, seeded 1-8, and would go mano a mano in a best two-of-three run contest. Scores didn’t necessarily matter or accumulate — riders simply had to beat their opponent on that specific run.

“Thankfully my team, they know the sport incredibly well. So, I ran the format by them. But every piece of it was from my own personal experience,” White said. “This set up allows for a real challenge.”

The men’s semifinals on Saturday featured Olympic champion Ayumu Hirano of Japan going up against Totsuka in a heavy-weight battle of triple corks, with Totsuka pulling off the small upset to advance. Japan’s Ruka Hirano (no relation to Ayumu) bested Oregon teen Alessandro Barbieri in the other semifinal.

Ayumu Hirano beat Barbieri in the third-place match to claim the final podium spot, while Totsuka’s nearly flawless riding carried him past Ruka Hirano and to the championship.

Something else that was different about the contest is how quick athletes went from run to run. White mentioned that when he was an athlete, he would go freeriding between runs, sometimes for as long as an hour because of the long wait times. He wanted to cut out that down time and keep riders engaged in the contest.

“You are getting your runs. You won’t wait more than 20 minutes in between runs. And you could see the athletes were turning and burning and going,” he said. “More opportunities for them to succeed and a quicker turnaround for the runs, so they stay warm, they stay excited.”

The women’s semifinals on Saturday pitted Mastro against Japan’s Mitsuki Ono — with Mastro advancing — and Korean teen phenom Gaon Choi against Japan’s Sena Tomita, the latter’s experience letting her move on. Choi beat Ono in the third-place match to claim a podium spot.

Mastro had a chance to beat Tomita on her final run, but she slightly back-seated her final trick and that small blemish kept her from the win.

“The difference was definitely the matter of me landing on my feet properly or not. Sena really made me be perfect today, so that was great,” Mastro said. “She made me work, so there was no room for any type of bobbles or anything, and I definitely did a little bit of a bobble at the end that made a big difference.”

This weekend in Aspen was just the start for the Snow League, which is meant to be a series of events where athletes accumulate points in search of the season-long championship. The first season will be four events, split between two winters, and the next contest will be at Secret Garden, China, in December.

The third contest will be back in Aspen next Feb. 26-28, before going to Laax, Switzerland, in March 2026 for the finale. There is a $1.6 million prize purse over the four contests, with individual contest winners earning $50,000.

Also of note, skiers will join the fold beginning with the second event in China and will continue to be part of the league moving forward.

“To win the Snow League tour, to be the champion at the end, is going to be a really, really big deal. I’m so thrilled,” White said. “That’s really the dream and the goal for this, is to have the sport seen as an accumulation of an entire season, not just one event.”

This story is from AspenTimes.com