Shaun
White put Sochi 2014 behind him with a massive victory at the men’s
halfpipe at Phoenix Park Wednesday. The 31-year-old captured his third
career gold medal with a big third run at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Ayumu
Hirano of Japan and Scotty James of Australia who couldn’t bring together
strong results in their finals runs won silver and bronze respectively. White’s
massive victory gave Team USA their 100th
gold medal in Winter Olympic history.
White’s massive qualifying run of 98.50 on Tuesday let the
rest of the competition know that despite losing out on the gold medal in
Sochi, he was in South Korea to win it. Pulling off two 1260’s during his
second run had him looking very good to run things when he gets three attempts
to put up the biggest number possible. What many would be wondering is whether “The
Flying Tomato” can hit triple digits.
Chase Josey was the first American to take the lead away
doing so from Switzerland’s Patrick Burgener getting an 87. 75 leading by
almost four points. Japanese snowboarder Raibu Katayama came two points short
of Josey after putting down the day’s first front side 1440 but didn’t have
many of his tricks land cleanly. Australia’s Scotty James came up big before
the end of the first round landing a front side double cork 1260 that was just
the start of great moves on his part. He added a back side 1260 and a front
side 1080 before a technical skill and a switch back side 1260 earned him a
92.00.
A rivalry between himself and White became apparent as the
American went last bringing together his signature style. He started with a
front double cork 1440 before going into the skyhook. After a technical 540, he
delivered the Tomahawk double backside 1260 and capped it off with a front side
1260 to lead with a 94.25.
Japan’s Yuko Totsuka had the biggest hit of the day landing
his board right on the top of the pipe to come down hard after a front side
1400 attempt. In what looked to be a serious injury with the visor of his
helmet coming off, Totsuka did not get up under his own power. A medical team
came down to assist the snowboarder who took him down on a brace to be
transported to a local medical facility.
After the halfpipe was checked out for debris the
competition resumed with Jake Pates scoring an 82.25. Jan Scherrer improved
during his second run landing a lot of good elements to get an 80.50 but not
enough to compete with the top three.
The Sochi silver medalist came off with a much better second
run with his combinations of 1440 with a front side double cork followed by a
cab double cork. With two 1260s finishing his run, the 29-year-old nailed down
a 95.25 that overtook White for first.
James followed the reigning X-Games gold medalist but didn’t
have a clean run on his second run leaving the door open for White to nail down
a big performance with still one more try left. For “The Flying Tomato” it
would take a third to overtake Hirano as White lost momentum after hitting a
front side double cork 1440 followed by another. The low landing took away from
his skyhook which sent him down on the tomahawk attempt.
The pressure was on the leaders to perform well and secure
their place in Olympic history with the final run left. Josey improved for his
first run and earned an 88 but it wasn’t enough to beat James’s 92.00 from the
second round. The final three who sat in medal position began with Hirano going
first but ruined his final run to let his second run stand as the one to beat.
James had a similar result that left him to take the bronze medal leaving
everything to stand on White’s shoulders to either make it a golden run or sit
with a silver.
He hit two 1440’s followed by a double McTwist with the
skyhook involved. With just a little more needed to put himself at the top,
White nailed a front side 1260 to get a 97.75 throwing his board and losing all
emotions. The work he put it nailing every element of his last run ended the
thoughts of ending a medal streak in Russia and built together one of the best
runs of his career to be back on top once again.
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