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It’s been nearly four years since Shaun White was beat at a halfpipe event. That defeat was served by Danny Davis at the 2010 Mammoth Grand Prix during the Olympic qualifiers for the Vancouver Games.

Today at the Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colorado Greg Bretz added his name to the short list of riders who have bested Shaun in pipe. Dew Tour placements carry extra weight this season as the Tour is the first qualifying stop for riders hoping to make the US Olympic Snowboard team.

Greg started his first run off with a frontside double cork 1080 into a Cab double cork 1080, followed by an inverted frontside 900 to backside 900. From there he blasted a frontside 1080, before wrapping it all up with a Cab frontside 1080. That run was worth 91.40 points, putting him in first early on.

Shaun’s first run started off the same as it always has in the past few years: a method to frontside double cork 1080 to Cab double cork 1080 to frontside five into his double McTwist 1260. And that was where the trouble came. He had under-rotated the 1260 and was only just able to get his board under him to absorb the impact before coming down well below the lip. The fall left Shaun in 11th place and with a bit of limp in his ankle.

As Shaun dropped in as the last rider of the day, Greg’s first run score still stood as the one to beat. Greg literally had his fingers crossed as he watched. Shaun has come from behind to win before but his second run started with a sketchy landing on his method followed by landing a bit heel-heavy on his frontside double cork 1080. He made the rest of his initially planned first run but at the end of the day it only earned him a 90.40, a full point behind Greg.

Among the strong US field in the pipe today Taylor Gold absolutely crushed his second run to end up in third place. Taylor came out strong with a huge backside 540 to frontside 900. One of the few tricks that other riders weren’t doing he threw a double Michalchuk, frontside double cork 1080, Cab 1080, finishing with a frontside 1260. With a score of 89.6 the run was good enough to put him in second temporarily.

Also looking on point out there today was a stylish Danny Davis, who was good to see back in competition. On his first run Danny cranked a method to start it off followed by a double crippler, McTwist, frontside 720, Cab 1080, closing with a frontside double cork 1080 for a score of 81.60.

Louie Vito put down a strong run with only five hits including a double crippler, Michalchuk, frontside double cork 1080, Cab double cork, to frontside 1080.

Bend, Oregon’s Ben Ferguson was another rider ripping out there today with a sick method to start things off followed by a double crippler, backside 900, frontside 720 nose grab, to Cab double cork and Mt. Bachelor-style g-carve to wrap it up.

For a lot of riders today it looked like case of opening contest jitters. There were many uncharacteristic falls, washouts, edge hooks that plagued riders.

And as far as the judging went, a few people felt it wasn’t totally on point. Stay tuned for our video to see what Danny Davis has to say about it all.

Greg Bretz now leads the US Olympic team pipe qualification standings with 1,000 points, followed by Shaun White with 800 points, and Taylor Gold with 600 points.

1. Greg Bretz

2. Shaun White (USA)

3. Taylor Gold (USA)

4. Louie Vito (USA)

5. Scotty James (Australia)

6. Ayumu Hirano (Japan)

7. Danny Davis (USA)

8. Ben Ferguson (USA)

9. Benji Farrow (USA)

10. Christian Haller (Switzerland)

11. Scotty Lago (USA)

12. Kent Callister (USA)

13. Iouri Podltchikov (Switzerland)

14. Taku Hiraoka (Japan)

15. Zach Black (USA)

16. Spencer Shaw (USA)