Snowboarding: Shaun White Continues America’s Series of Gold Medals by Winning in Men’s Halfpipe

The series of America’s wins in snowboarding continues. Shaun White took gold in men’s halfpipe and brought the fourth gold medal to the country’s team in snowboarding. His best result was 97.75 points. It’s the third gold medal of the snowboarder as he won the halfpipe competitions at 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics. Moreover, he is a record holder by the number of gold medals at Winter X Games. He gained 13 gold medals of these competitions.

White commented his victory: “Oh man, that was awful and amazing at the same time. I knew I did a great ride and I was proud of that and I could walk away with my head high. But when they announced my score and I’d won, it crippled me. It’s one of the most challenging runs I’ve ever done. I didn’t even link the combination, the 14 to 14 [back-to-back 1440s] until I got here this morning. So I’m just so happy with my performance. I’m proud of the other riders for pushing me this whole time.”

Shaun White Poster

The athlete also thanked his team for support: “I have to thank my team. They were always there to support me and reassure me that what we’re doing is on the right track, and they believed in me. That really helped me. They’re all here for me today. They’re beside themselves. I’m still shaking, I don’t know what’s happening. My family have been so supportive of me from the get-go. In the beginning – driving to the mountains, calling in sick to work, getting me to where I needed to be, and we’re here. Man, three gold medals. My fourth Olympics. Thank you, I’m feeling blessed”.

Ayumu Hirano from Japan, silver medalist of 2014 Olympic Games, took silver with the score of 95.25 and Australian Scott James became a bronze medalist with 92.00 points.

The other finalists finished the competition in the following order:

4 Ben Ferguson (United States)

5 Patrick Burgener (Switzerland)

6 Chase Josey (United States)

7 Raibu Katayama (Japan)

8 Jake Pates (United States)

9 Jan Scherrer (Switzerland)

10 Kent Callister (Australia)

11 Yuto Totsuka (Japan)

12 Peetu Piiroinen (silver medalist of 2010 Winter Olympics) (Finland)