The field of 20 men in the snowboard slopestyle qualifier was decisively wittled down to eight as those who could survive the tough course were rewarded with places in Thursday's (today) final.

The lines may not have been as mahoosive as expected from the likes of Travis Rice (USA), Chas Guldemond (USA) and Marko Grilc (SLO) - some of the best riders in the world today - but there were still some moments of pure beauty.

Mathieu Crepel's soaring backflip was one such moment, and despite seeming super happy with his run when he's finished, it wasn't enough to secure him a place in the finals - he came in 9th.

Tyler Chorlton was representing Britain, and pulled some massive airs but looked a little uncertain on some of his landings. He finished 20th overall.

While some riders were pulling 7s and 5s, the grueling length and scope of the course (six or seven kickers, depending who you talk to), coupled with the sticky snow conditions, meant instead of showing us their full bag of tricks with 10s and 12s, many riders kept it simple with big backside 180s and relatively easy (for them) 540s.

We hear a rumour that the course has been tweaked overnight, so here's hoping we see some of the best of what these guys are capable of in the final this afternoon. We'll keep you posted with results on here and on Twitter as we get them.

Starting in the final will be, in order of qualifying: Chas Guldemond (USA), Marko Grilc (SLO), Eric Willett (USA), Christian Haller (SUI), Sage Kotsenburg (USA), Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI), Travis Rice (USA) and Stephan Maurer (SUI).