With the top 8 riders going to the finals, JJ’s 5th place runs kept him safe from elimination. The competition last night was crazy, with Olympic halfpipe team member Scotty Lago missing out on the top 8 and other O-team member Louie Vito barely slipping in with his chicken-flapping straight air. Although they didn’t show JJ’s runs on ESPN (Wtf? They instead aired the rest of the riders who didn’t make the top 8), our representative Jesse “Wetrat” Johnson said that the crowd went WILD for JJ. All I can say is they better show JJ’s runs for the finals! Check out some pics we got of the qualies. Finals are TONIGHT at 6:30pm PST. Good luck JJ!

Women’s Elimination Results
1. Kelly Clark
2. Gretchen Bleiler
3. Elena Hight
4. Hannah Teter
5. Ellery Hollingsworth
6. Soko Yamaoka

Men’s Elimination Results
1. Shaun White
2. Iouri Podladtchikov
3. Greg Bretz
4. Kazuhiro Kokubo
5. J.J. Thomas
6. Luke Mitrani
7. Louie Vito
8. Steve Fisher

Celtek Clan going big for JJ!

Lotsa people

JJ Thomas all access pass!

Different view of the pipe

JJ feelin’ good after his run

Jesse and JJ

Also, watch this Transworld video recap of the event. You can see some of JJ’s run and if you look close enough, you can see Jesse in his blue coat on the side of the pipe!