Olympic ski halfpipers crank up the tunes before their runs

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Needing to rock his final Olympic halfpipe run just to qualify, Aaron Blunck proceeded to pump up the volume. “If someone wants to mess with me on a competition day, they’d take away my music,” said New Zealand’s Nico Porteous, who will be one of the favorites in the final Saturday, which marks the end of the fun and games at the Genting Snow Park. Like, the most important thing.” For his qualifying run, Porteous went back in time, to the 1990s, to The Notorious B.I.G.’s song “Who Shot Ya?” It’s the same tune Porteous was listening to when he captured bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. His teammate, Birk Irving, pushed play on Phantogram’s “Black Out Days.” “Music’s huge,” the 22-year-old Irving said. “I’m fully focused on skiing, and not thinking anything else.” For Bowman, tunes have been a “game changer.” “The energy gets me excited because I’m a fairly laid-back guy,” Bowman said.