Westbound Boarder

Shaun White has finally broken the curse that historically consumed the Winter X games defending champion. That’s right, history was made as the 2009 Winter X Thirteen came to an end last night in Aspen, CO. Shawn White is the first competitor to ever win a back to back gold medal – in any of the X Games competitions. You think that’s cool? White now also holds the most Winter X gold medals – a record nine, to be exact.

Despite the contrary expectation, it didn’t come easy for White last night. He went into his third and final run in 7^th place and really needed to stomp his last run to even have a chance for the podium.  As White admits, it’s the last run pressure that does it for him, so it’s no surprise that his final run was of gold standard.

White’s winning run included quite the combo – soaring more than 20 feet out of the pipe, he pulled his signature backside rodeo, a backside 900, a frontside 1080, followed by a backside 1080 (a popular combo of the evening), a frontside 900, then sealed the deal with a McTwist.  This run earned him a score of 91.66, just barely enough to bump him past Kevin Pearce’s 90.66. As White was recently defeated by Pearce earlier this month at the Burton European Open in Laax, Switzerland, last night was quite the redemption. Even though they are competitors, Pearce gave White a pound…

No matter who you were cheering for, White deserves some major props as he made Winter X history! Earning back to back gold medals in the Superpipe and achieving the unprecedented 8^th (White also took Gold in Slopestyle on Saturday night) and 9^th gold medals in the 2009 Winter X games.

What exactly drives Shawn White to go so big? From the Flying Tomato himself…”The Amazing Crowd!

The Dew Tour continued today, kicking off with the Women’s Superpipe comp.  I’m glad I got to watch some of the women riders today because they were freakin’ awesome.  Here’s a quick recap of some of the highlights:

•  In the prelim. round on NBC, Gretchen Bleiler stepped up first and performed an awesome run.  Her spins were impressive, though not quite enough to bring her into first in the prelims.  Her second though began with a frontside 9 into a backside crippler – her signature move – straight into a backside 5.  The run was amazing and propelled her to first, with an outstanding score of 90.25.
• Kelly Clark went second; though she didn’t spin as much as Gretchen, her run was so solid and clean that she walked out of the prelims in first place, with a score of 86.75.  Her second run was solid, but a quick scrub on the third hit cost her first.  
• Hannah Teeter, known for her unpredictable runs, was up third and took second place in the prelim round.  She threw out two 5′s and a 7, and though she didn’t get as much air as Kelly, her second place finish in the prelims was well-deserved.  Her second run, though, was a bust, and a bit surprising for Hannah.  She landed too far into the pipe on the first hit, which ultimately cost her the run and a chance at top 3.
• Elena Hight was up next with her second run of the day; she threw out both back and front side 900′s in the run, however, clipped the side of the pipe in landing after the first which impacted her speed and height quite noticeably.  But being the only female thus far to throw a backside 9, it was enough to boost her to second place.
• Holly Crawford and Kjersti Buaas also performed throughout the day; Holly’s run was smooth but not enough to place, and after a nice first run, Kjersti fell hard during her second.   

The final scores:

1. Bleiler – 90.25
2. Clark – 86.75
3. Hight – 82.00
4. Teter – 78.75
5. Crawford – 75.50
6. Ostgaard Buaas – 58.75