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!