US snowboarder Shaun White cruises into half-pipe final

United States snowboarded Shaun White has qualified for the half-pipe finals with ease, thanks to a score of 95.75 on his first run in Tuesday's qualification round.

White, the heavy favourite for the gold medal at the Sochi Games, beat his closest competitors to reach the final with only Japan's Ayumu Hirano (92.25) and China's Zhang Yiwei (90.00) joining him in the 90s in the first run.

Wow! @shaun_white drops in and hits an amazing run in the #halfpipe #Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/UxKy5n7sR3

— Sochi 2014 (@Sochi2014) February 11, 2014

White goes straight into the final later on Tuesday, with a semi-final earlier in the day finalising the competitors.