Snowboard halfpipe qualifying preview: Chloe Kim, Shaun White seek to defend halfpipe golds

American snowboarders Chloe Kim and Shaun White vie Wednesday – Tuesday night stateside – for respective top-12 spots in women's and men's halfpipe qualifying at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and NBC and Peacock will be there to capture it all.

Kim, the defending gold medalist from PyeongChang, competes first in a women's field of 22, after which White, gold medalist at the 2006, 2010 and 2018 Games, squares off against 24 other men's riders.

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SEE MORE: Chloe Kim recounts gold in South Korea, looks ahead to 2022

Kim, 21, brought home the 2018 title by hitting back-to-back 1080s on a final-run victory lap. She subsequently took nearly two years off from competition to heal a broken ankle and attend her freshman year at Princeton University.

After returning last winter, she won the Laax Open, a fifth X Games Aspen title, a second straight world title and the Aspen Grand Prix, then continued her streak this season at Dew Tour and Laax.

SEE MORE: How to watch Chloe Kim at the 2022 Winter Olympics on NBC and Peacock

A solid favorite, Kim is expected to breeze through the opening round. Joining her at the top should be teammate and reigning world runner-up Maddie Mastro, two-time world champion Cai Xuetong of China and 2020 X Games winner Queralt Castellet of Spain.

SEE MORE: PyeongChang 2018: A look back at Shaun White's historic win

White is set to become a five-time Olympian upon dropping in on his first qualifying run, and at age 35 will become the event's oldest men's competitor in Olympic history. But for the first time time ever, White does not enter as one of the favorites to win gold.

That distinct group currently includes Japanese trio Ayumu Hirano, Yuto Totsuka and Ruka Hirano and reigning X Games champion Scotty James of Australia. Ayumu Hirano, winner of the last two silvers, landed a competition-first triple cork at December's Dew Tour – a trick we're likely to see thrown multiple times.

SEE MORE: How to watch Shaun White at the 2022 Winter Olympics on NBC and Peacock

White won back-to-back golds at his first two Games in Torino and Vancouver before claiming a third in PyeongChang by landing back-to-back double cork 1440s on his final run. Any medal at the 2022 Games would make him the sport's first rider to attain four.

The snowboarding icon told TODAY last month that the 2022 Olympics would likely be his "last run," then confirmed the decision at a pre-Games press conference earlier this week. He said he realized it was time during a surreal moment while alone on a chairlift watching the sun go down.

Sign up to stream every event at the 2022 Winter Olympics LIVE on Peacock. Users can also authenticate via TV Everywhere to stream events in the NBC Sports app or on NBCOlympics.com. You can see a full snowboarding streaming schedule on NBCOlympics.com.

When does Chloe Kim compete?

When does Shaun White compete?

SEE MORE: How to watch Snowboarding at the 2022 Winter Olympics on NBC and Peacock