Sixteen of the world’s best superpipe riders laced up their boots and set out to do work today in Aspen’s famed 22′ superpipe. The men’s snowboard pipe eliminations kicked off this afternoon under sunny skies and warm temps on the last day of Winter X Games 16.

The goal for every rider was to put down at least one solid run that would earn them enough points to move unto tonight’s highly anticipated final. That proved difficult for many as today’s eliminations were plagued with uncharacteristic falls from some of snowboarding’s best. Danny Davis, who looked strong throughout practice, fell on both of his runs ruining his chance for finals. This is the sixth time in a row DD has failed to make finals at X. Also missing out on the chance to compete under the lights were Scotty Lago, Jack Mitrani, Kazu Kokubu, Steve Fisher, Peetu Piiroinen, and Kohei Kudo.

While many of these top guys were unable to put it down, Shaun White was on fire and easily took the top spot with his first run. White pulled out of Friday’s slopestyle competition citing an ankle injury, but it didn’t seem to affect his riding today. When asked about how he was feeling, White said he was much better and noted that he tied his boots extra tight for today’s event. That must have been a heck of a lace-job because White stomped a run that included a huge backside air, and two perfect 1080′s which earned him an 88.66. That’s actually a relatively low score for White, so look for him to amp up his tricks and intensity in tonight’s finals.

Rumors around Aspen are that both Shaun White and Iouri Podladtchikov may be unleashing new, never-before-seen tricks, which means tonight’s final is going to be one of the most progressive to date. It’s gonna go off in Aspen.

See who made the cut. Top 8 are locking into finals.