Superstar Shaun White has duped the competition at the start of the Olympic year with an impressive flight show and secured his ticket for his fourth Winter Games.
The 31-year-old American won the halfpipe World Cup in Aspen Snowmass (USA) with a dream score of 100 points.
White conjured up the tricks he’s been working on for weeks in the last of the three final rounds – which he won on 14 January. February in Pyeongchang will bring his third Olympic gold medal after 2006 and 2010: Frontside 1440/Cab double 1080, Frontside 540, Tomahawk, Frontside double 1260.
“Man, I’m freaking out! That’s unreal, I’m almost crying. What a day,”said White, whose performance was also too much for the two-time World Champion and X-Games winner Scotty James (96.25 points) from Australia, who finished second.
He had felt “great pressure” because of the Olympic qualifying round, White admitted, as it was his penultimate chance.
White had missed the start of the World Cup last September after a training crash. At his comeback in December in Copper Mountain (USA) he finished third, in Aspen he missed the first two runs weakened by a cramp in his leg,”I wrestled with me: Are you going to play it safe because of the Olympics or are you trying to win,”he said.