Jan 30, 2011
Winter X Games 15: Shaun White Wins Gold Medal Snowboard SuperPipe
After his first run in Sunday night's Snowboard SuperPipe final, Shaun White found himself in an unusual position: second place. His Olympic podium mate, Scotty Lago, had just thrown a massive run that began with a cab double cork 1080 and set the height bar higher than anyone else in the field. White, the last rider to go due to his first-place qualifying position, landed near the flat bottom following his third-to-last hit and struggled through the final two hits of his run with diminished speed.
After failing to qualify for the Slopestyle final on Saturday in his return to that event after a year hiatus, it was fair to ask the question: Was this just not White's year?
On his second run, Lago crashed, leaving a crack in the door. White -- known as one of the fiercest competitors in all of action sports -- stormed through.
His second run began with a backside air nearly 20 feet out of the pipe and he built on it from there: back-to-back double corks to 540 to a double mctwist 1260 and ending on a backside rodeo alley oop f5.
The run earned him a 97.33 -- an identical score to his winning run last year and tied for the highest score in Winter X Games history. "Thank goodness," he said at the top of the pipe following his run. "I did NOT want it to come down to that last run!"
That might sound over-confident, considering there was still a run left for Lago to regain the lead, but it proved prophetic. Lago, riding with a badly broken jaw after a crash suffered filming in the backcountry with Travis Rice just weeks before Winter X, crashed again on his third and final run, sealing White's victory.
In an uncharacteristic finish, White chose not to use his victory lap to throw his biggest tricks, choosing instead for series of massive straight airs that left the crowd screaming.
"I saw Lago destroying it and figured it was all or nothing at that point," White said in the finish area. I knew I needed to stick the best run I had, and I went for it."
When asked how it felt to be back on top after his Slopestyle style set back, White responded, "I knew I wasn't holding the biggest cards, but after living and learning, I was so fired up coming into pipe. I did my thing, and it built me up again."
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