Louie Vito Announces Retirement After 20-Year Contest Career

He wanted to put down a run he never had before in a contest, and he did just that, one last time.

Louie Vito has retired from contest snowboarding. He announced the news in an Instagram post Monday evening.

“This Olympics was my third and final attempt at the world stage. I wanted to go out there and show a run I’ve never landed before, and I did! I gave it my all,” he said in the post. “I have been doing professional contests for over 20 years. I have no regrets. And I’m going out my way.”

Vito scored a 58.75, good enough for 18th place at the men’s halfpipe qualification this year. He opened his run with a Cab double cork 1260, then went into a backside double cork 1260. A frontside double cork 1080, Cab double cork 1080, and frontside 900 didn’t get him to finals day, but it was one heck of a way to go out.

“I am truly blessed to have been competing for over 20 years and to end my competitive career at the Olympics, landing a run I have never landed before, at almost 38 years old,” he said. “I am proud of my accomplishments in this sport, to have played a small part in the evolution and to have seen so many of the groms grow up to take snowboarding to the next level.”

Vito retires with four U.S. Grand Prix Championships under his belt, from 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012. He was won five Dew Tour golds and three Dew Tour silvers. A silver and a bronze at the X Games in Aspen, two golds, a silver, and a bronze at the X Games in Tignes, and eight podiums at the Burton Open.

Vito represented the United States in 2010 at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, where he finished in fifth place in the halfpipe. He competed for Italy for the first time at the 2022 Games in Beijing, thanks to dual citizenship.

Vito was born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in Bellefontaine, Ohio. He grew up riding at Mad River Mountain, where he continued to host a rail jam for charity years after he left.

In his farewell, Vito thanked a long list of people who helped him along the way. Some were outside of snowboarding, like his family and wife Hailey Ostrom. Others are vital to the snowboarding community, like Danny Kass, Todd Richards, Luke "The Dingo" Trembath, and Toby Miller. Vito thanked John Schaeffer and former speed skating gold medalist Apolo Ohno for "getting me in the best shape of my life and changing everything about my lifestyle off the hill."