CYPRESS MOUNTAIN, British Columbia -- Many words have been spilled in talking about Shaun White, once again king of the men's halfpipe. You only need two: "Holy" and the expletive of your choice.
Standing at the top of the run with the gold medal in his pocket Wednesday night, White made a run he didn't need to, but only he could have. Deciding to "keep it weird," White finished with with a Double McTwist 1260 (I can't do it justice, watch it, U.S. only, sorry). White scored 48.4, improving his 46.8 from the first run. "Normally, I can't even land it," he said.
The final trick shoved his first run into the background, even though it was more than good enough for gold. For fans who had sat through 24 semifinal runs and 11 final runs before he made his appearance, White set the tone with his first trick, seeming to clear the pipe by at least a board length more than any other competitor.
There was a little bit of grumbling about the judging. Flashy Kazuhiro Kokubo managed only 35.7 on his final run despite eliciting the biggest crowd response for someone not representing North America.
American Louie Vito scored 39.4 on his second run, angering the fans. "I liked that the crowd booed. That was awesome," Vito said. "But that's snowboarding. You're trying to please five people."
This was White's second gold in the halfpipe, the first coming in 2006 in Torino. Peetu Piiroinen of Finland took silver, Scott Lago of the U.S. finished third.
Photo: Associated Press
