Shaun White

Something funny happened in the 15th Winter X Games last year: Shaun White failed to qualify for the finals in the snowboard slopestyle event.

It wasn't a huge upset, as White had skipped the slopestyle event altogether in 2010 so he could focus his attention on getting geared up for the halfpipe event at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He was rusty, plain and simple.

Still, it was a bit of a surprise to see White bow out of the slopestyle competition so early. He went into last year's X Games with eight slopestyle medals, including five golds.

White himself didn't sound too heartbroken over his disappointing performance, according to the Denver Post.

I love the fact that I'm being challenged. It's the best feeling in the world. I've finally gotten that boast of 'Wow, this is what's to come and this is where I need to be.' I'm so inspired right now to go learn things. I'm definitely amped up to go and ride the halfpipe, which I'm feeling geared up for. I'm just happy that I was able to show up and do my best. That's why I'm here."

Upon reading a statement like that, you get the feeling that White won't sweat it if he doesn't redeem himself at this year's Winter X Games, which kick off on Thursday.

But White will redeem himself. You can take that to the bank.

It may sound like a bold prediction, but it's really not. White's biggest problem last year was simple rust, and this year rust shouldn't be an issue. He participated in the slopestyle last year, and he participated in the slopestyle at the Winter Dew Tour in Breckenridge this past December. He didn't qualify for the finals, but ESPN.com claims that some of White's competition is operating under the notion that White was merely there to survey the field.

There's also the Olympic incentive to consider. slopestyle will be introduced into the Olympics at the 2014 games at Sochi. We know that White is going to do his thing in the halfpipe at the Olympics, but he could easily decide to go for broke in both the halfpipe event and the slopestyle event. The only thing better than one gold medal is two gold medals, and so on.

Because White still has a couple years to train and prepare for Sochi, it's not like he needs to medal in the slopestyle event at Winter X. He merely needs to show that he can still be competitive, which will entail at least qualifying for the finals.

Qualifying won't be easy, mind you. White is up against some pretty talented competition, and young too. White is no geezer in his own right, but the kids he'll be competing against know all about him and what he's done. They'll be looking to earn bragging rights by beating him.

That, of course, is yet another incentive for White to bring his A Game.

Shaun White is going to soar, twist and flip his way to another X Games gold medal. He has won the past four superpipe X Games gold medals, and that streak is not about to stop now. 

White will enter this competition with all eyes on him, and the pressure to perform. This is nothing new to "Flying Tomato." He has been the face of his sport for years, and rarely does he leave fans disappointed. 

Despite White having in the public eye for years he is still only 25 years old, and clearly at the peak of his capabilities. 

At last year's X Games he won the gold medal with a run that earned him a score of 97.33. It was a near-flawless run that was jam-packed with difficulty. In fact, he landed for the first time in competition his Double McTwist 1260. 

Take a look at the run for yourself. 

White has clearly not let his game slip since the last X Games. White took eight months off from snowboarding following the X Games, but it didn't show as he nailed the following run to win the Dew Tour Breck pipe.

With just four days on the snow after his eight-month hiatus, the snowboarder extraordinaire scored a 95 for this run.

As you can see in the video, White still has his legendary height and amazing technical skill. He didn't pull out any new tricks for that run, but with more practice time prior to the X Games, who knows what he has up his sleeves?

The only safe bet here is that his run will be amazing and earn him another gold medal.  

Don't miss any of the following athletes' Winter X Games 16 performances—they are going to be special.

Winter X Games 16 takes place January 26th-29th in Aspen, Colorado. That means the action will be coming fast and furious once the Games begin.

Here are the athletes who will be filling up the highlight reels. 

Shaun White

The inclusion of "The Flying Tomato" on this list should surprise no one. He has been dropping jaws and emptying seats for years now, and he just keeps getting better. 

White has won X Games gold in the Superpipe four straight times, and his last was his most impressive. His medal-winning run checked in with a score of 97.33. During that run he landed the Double McTwist 1260. 

It's impossible to say what he could do to top that, but it is a good bet he will. 

Kelly Clark

Clark is essentially the female snowboarding equivalent of Shaun White. She is the dominating figure in women's Superpipe.

She has medaled in that competition in six of the last eight X Games—including winning gold in 2006 and 2011—and she shows zero signs of slowing down.

However, Clark is now 28, and she likely realizes she is nearing the end of her great run. Look for her to push things farther than ever before to give a performance that trumps anything she has done.

Sebastien Toutant

Toutant had a stellar X Games debut in 2011. He won the Snowboard Slope Style gold and the Snowboard Big Air silver. 

This snowboarder extraordinaire is only getting better. Last spring, he became just the third person to land the triple cork backside 1440. 

Toutant is a 5'7", 145-pound stick of dynamite. He is explosive and unpredictable, and he is certainly looking to go huge in this X Games. 

The Winter X Games are headed to Aspen, Colorado for the 11th time running, with as star-studded a field as the event has yet seen in its 16 years of existence.

Everyone knows Shaun White will be up to his typical, jaw-dropping antics, but who else should extreme sports fans look out for starting on Thursday?

Kazuhiro Kokubo

Joining Shaun White in the field at the Men's SuperPipe will be Kazuhiro Kokubo.

Long known for his rebellious spirit, the 23-year-old Japanese snowboarding sensation was withheld from the opening ceremonies at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver for wearing his uniform a bit too loosely for the liking of the powers-that-be.

Kazu has claimed victory on the half-pipe at the US Open of Snowboarding in each of the last two years and will look to improve upon his bronze medal performance at the 2010 Winter X Games, while continuing to represent his disaster-stricken home nation with pride and panache, when he peruses the pipes on Sunday.

Torin Yater-Wallace

If skiing is more your beat and you're keen to scope out the next big thing, then Torin Yater-Wallace should be your main attraction. The 16-year-old wunderkind will be on hand for the Men's SuperPipe, an event in which he took silver at last year's X Games at the tender age of 15.

That made Yater-Wallace, a native of Aspen, the youngest medalist in the history of the Winter X Games. He'll be back to put on a show for the hometown crowd after killing it at the Winter Dew Tour in Killington, Vermont this past weekend.

Kelly Clark

As for the women's field, Kelly Clark isn't exactly new or up-and-coming, though she's well worth watching, nonetheless.

The Vermont native has earned a medal in the Women's Snowboard SuperPipe in six of the last eight years, including golds in 2006 and 2011.

Clark was named the Female Athlete of the Year at the 2011 ESPY awards and, at 28 years of age, will be out to prove that she can fend off the rising stars and maintain her spot atop the world of women's extreme sports.

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The Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado feature some of the best athletes in the entire world.

On the ESPN family of networks—ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3 and for some events ESPN 3D—you can watch it all.

Shaun White and Gretchen Bleiler will be there. Hannah Teter and Scotty Lago too.

The X Games in Aspen is a preview of the type of talent that will be on hand at the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi.

We'll keep track of all the medals and highlights right here.

All I want for Christmas is for naked pictures of Shaun White to stay unpurchased and unpublished.

I don't want to surf the web in constant fear that I may accidentally click the wrong link and see a naked Shaun White on top of a lady while turning to the camera and smiling.

Unfortunately, this horrifying future is one we all face.

TMZ is reporting that a photo, much like the one above but without clothes, is being shopped around to the highest bidder.

According to TMZ, there are two photos. One is of a fully clothed Flying Tomato making out in a room of people, and "the other pic shows Shaun with the same woman—sans clothes—in the middle of a missionary-style embrace on a bed...with Shaun grinning at the direction of the camera."

The photos were allegedly taken at a hotel party after White won the 2009 Winter X-Games gold medal for Superpipe.

Apparently there were several people snapping pictures, but people close to White were "running damage control" and urging people to erase the pics.

What kind of party was this? I don't mean the naked exploits. I mean who was attending? Was this just open to anyone at the hotel? Obviously there were people in attendance that aren't close friends with White, or we wouldn't have this picture problem.

And what a problem it is. For now we can rest secure in the knowledge that no one has offered enough for these pictures to become public. At some point, though, you have to believe these pictures will be sold and become public.

Then we will all live in the fear that we are just one misclick away from finding out what TMZ has already learned.

"TMZ has seen the pics...let's just say the ginger carpet matches the ginger drapes."

And if that should ever happen, this would be me.

ASPEN, CO—In near negative temperatures and under the lights in Aspen, Shaun White was under the gun going into his last run of the night in the Men’s Superpipe final.

He dropped in for his final run, stomping every trick—including his now infamous double McTwist 1260—which earned him a 97.33 run score and his fourth consecutive Winter X gold medal in Superpipe. When he dropped in for his final run, he was three points behind former Olympic teammate Scotty Lago.

“Sitting in second is not fun. If I came out here, I had to earn my leather,” White said about the black leather jacket he was wearing under the lights in Aspen, “Put something mean down. You can’t show up with this and not pull something cool.”

White had to pull out all the tricks to take the gold away from Lago, who had his best finish at Winter X with the silver medal.

Afterwards, Lago was still proud of what he had accomplished in the pipe, “I think [my run] was better than the run I put down at the Olympics. I obviously knew Shaun was going to throw down. It’s Shaun White.”

Shaun White has now won 16 total medals at the Winter X Games dating back to winning silver in Slopestyle and Superpipe in 2002. Since failing to medal in Superpipe in both `04 and `05, he has won gold every year except in 2007 when he took home his third and most recent silver medal.

After his gold medal winning performance, Shaun was excited for the revitalization the weekend had brought him, “It takes so much for me nowadays to get fired up about something. All I want to do is go hit jumps now.”