Earlier this week the US Snowboarding team named 26 athletes, including Olympic champion Kelly Clark, Olympic bronze medallist Scotty Lago and Olympic gold medallist Hannah Teter to its 2013 team. Also named were four-time Sprint US Grand Prix champion and Olympian Louie Vito, World Snowboard Champion Chas Guldemond and Olympians Elena Hight (also US Open Champion) and Greg Bretz.

But this lot shouldn’t be booking themselves in for their Olympic tats just yet. Each country can only send a maximum of four riders to compete in any one event, and this number depends on how many riders they have at the top of the FIS points lists when the Olympic qualification period ends in January 2014.

So with the likes of Shaun White among their list of compatriots this lot are inevitably going to get involved in some kind of showdown before they can book their tickets to Sochi. The Grand Prix events in Park City and Colorado – for the first time enjoying FIS World Cup status – are likely to be ones to watch.