The event, held on the largest of the four mountains in Aspen, serves as the penultimate qualifier for next month's Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang and American athletes duly seized their opportunity to impress.

Arielle Gold top scored in the women's halfpipe with a score of 91.00 to book her place in the final.

Gold's compatriot Maddie Mastro qualified in second place having recorded a total of 90.25 points.

Japan's Hikaru Oe denied the American team a clean sweep of the top three places as her routine yielded 86.00.

Chloe Kim, the current World Cup leader who is among those tipped for glory at Pyeongchang 2018, safely progressed in fifth having scored 82.00.

In the men's competition, double Olympic gold medallist Shaun White was the highest qualifier as he laid down a total of 95.00.

Seven American snowboarders featured in the top 10 in a commanding display from the host nation.

Ben Ferguson, also of the US, was second as he scored 93.50, while the third qualification spot went to Yuto Totsuka of Japan after he registered 91.75.

In the men's slopestyle skiing competition, being held as part of the event in Aspen, Andri Ragettli of Switzerland finished at the summit of the qualification standings on 95.00 points.

Ragettli's team-mate Fabian Bösch was second on 93.33, while Jesper Tjader of Sweden 93.00.

Johanne Killi of Norway topped the women's leaderboard on 90.66 points.

Sarah Hoefflin of Switzerland was second on 90.00 points, while France's Tess Ledeux and Maggie Voisin of the US both scored 89.66.

The event continues tomorrow.