Shaun White legend at 23

Shaun White, 23, successfully defended his Olympic gold medal from 2006 in Turin in the Men's Half-pipe at Vancouver. This adds to his winter X Games Gold medal count of 9.

With the gold medal already in his pocket he broke the record for the biggest ever half-pipe score with 48.4/50 with his second run, pulling out the brand new Tomahawk to finish.

White spent a week in December at the private halfpipe Red Bull built him in the San Juan Mountains in rural Colorado perfecting a variety of new tricks, including the Tomahawk - which he invented, perfected and nicknamed - two front flips and 3½ twists (double McTwist 1260).

“It’s groundbreaking,” said Mike Jankowski, the head halfpipe coach for the United States. “He’s the first one to try it and the first one to do it. No one else has attempted it. No one else feels comfortable or confident or safe at this time. Now, he’s the leader of the pack. He’s basically setting the road map for snowboarding right now.” [Yahoo Sports]

"It's impossible to beat Shaun unless he falls," said silver medallist Peetu Piioroinen of Finland.

The judging was a little inconsistent I thought with American Lago getting bronze though his team mate Louie Vito, who finished 5th, threw down a much more technical impressive run. Print this post