Snowboarding

Shaun White, once again, has two finals to focus on at the Winter X Games—the SuperPipe and Slopestyle. For the first time since 2009, White has qualified for the finals in both events and will be looking to bring home two gold medals.

In 2003, 2006 and 2009, White won gold in both events. In 2002, 2007 and 2008, he medaled in both events. Come Saturday and Sunday, White will be looking to add to his total of 17 medals at the Winter X Games. 

Slopestyle Finals—Saturday, Jan. 26, 2 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.

Before he dominated SuperPipe, White was dominating Slopestyle. He's back in the finals for the first time since 2009, when he won gold. Since then, he's only competed in the event once. He failed to advance to the finals in 2011.

White finished seventh in qualifying out of the eight that advanced. He finished with a score of 67.33 on his first run to see him through. On his second run, White finished with a score of 32.66 with his first run strong enough to get him into the finals on Saturday.

After the eliminators, the favorite in the event has to be Mark McMorris, who posted the top score of 88.66. Peetu Piiroinen finished the event with a score of 81.33, and will also contend. White will need to pull out some massive tricks, possibly even the triple cork. 

 SuperPipe Finals—Sunday, Jan. 27, 9:45 p.m. - 11 p.m.

This event concludes the 2013 X Games, and White will surely be looking to end the games with a dazzling run. White will look to win his sixth consecutive gold in the event and somehow follow up his perfect run from last year's finals. 

White finished his first run in SuperPipe eliminators with a score of 87.00. His mark stood as the top run until Iouri Podladtchikov topped it with a score of 87.33 on the second-to-last run of the evening. Having already qualified, White declined to do any tricks and finished his second run with a score of 1.33. 

While there doesn't seem to be much competition for White, Podladtchikov and Scotty Lago will likely fight for silver, barring unseen events during White's run. This should be another gold medal for White, as he's simply at another level in this event. 

Shaun White is ready to extend the dominance he's shown on the Superpipe to Slopestyle. 

White used to rule Slopestyle. He has eight X Games Slopestyle medals in his career and five of those are gold.

However, he moved away from the event. His last medal in the event came in 2009, which was followed by him taking two years from the competition.  

He competed in Slopestyle at the 2011 X Games, but the rust was evident, and White did not even qualify for the finals. 

It was not just rust that left White staring up at the competition either. The competition had wildly improved. A fresh young crop of young riders were beginning to take over the competition. 

Mark McMorris, 19, is the most prevalent of the dynamic youngsters. As an X Games rookie in 2011, McMorris took home the silver. He followed that up with an even better performance last year as he took home the gold in the event to go along with the gold in the Snowboard Big Air competition. 

It appears as if White has accepted the challenge of knocking McMorris from his perch atop the Slopestyle world. This is also just in time for White to compete for the gold in this event in the 2014 Winter Olympics. 

White has gone to work, perfecting his form in Slopestyle, and we can all be assured he will not look rusty this time around. 

To get a taste of what we can expect, White pulled a triple cork. Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uuZYmyanf4

No one has ever attempted a triple cork in slopestyle competition, and White certainly appears poised to not just attempt it but land it.

It's not like the legend is going to wilt in the face of the pressure. 

White is used to the bright lights and big expectations. He has mastered those circumstances to pull out his best performances. 

McMorris has proven he can also handle the pressure. However, this time, he is the one entering the competition with huge expectations and the one everyone is gunning for. 

Whether he can successfully handle the pressure or not will be of no consequence to White. He will put up a performance that no one else can touch. 

Shaun White cut his hair, landed a triple cork 1440 and decided to abstain from skateboarding until after the Sochi Winter Olympics. Now what?

As quoted by Alyssa Roenigk of ESPN, White will spend this year preparing for the Winter Games and away from a skateboard:

That's the one thing that upsets me the most is that I had knee surgery [in August 2012] so I couldn't really skate that much this past summer and then coming up, I don't intend to skateboard the year before the Olympics. It's just one of those things where a twisted ankle can put you out of the Games. I don't like taking that chance. So I usually lay low on it. See what else fills my time. I have other plans.

White’s decision to stay away from skateboarding means 2013 should be a pretty good year for snowboarding.

According to Roenigk, White may have landed a triple cork in slopestyle practice last week—a trick few riders have successfully landed on the slopes. White has not confirmed that he was the rider in the video that has been circulating around, but if he is in fact working on the triple cork, fans can expect to see him pull it off on camera at some point this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uuZYmyanf4

White has been the most recognizable face in snowboarding for several years, and he continues to innovate and perform at the highest level. Last year at the X Games White posted the first ever perfect score in superpipe, and he returns to the event in Aspen, Colorado, this year with only snowboarding on his mind.

White is one of the most talented riders on the planet, but that’s not the only thing that keeps him moving forward. As quoted by Roenigk, White’s desire to continue pushing the limits keeps him motivated:

Each year brings something new. When you reach the cap on what's possible, there's a new event to win and tricks to learn. That keeps me motivated.

That motivation to innovate and push the limits is what keeps snowboarding moving forward. There is always another feat that has not been accomplished, and riders like White are continually searching for the “cap on what’s possible.”

White is an extremely talented athlete who has succeeded in multiple extreme sports, but his rededication to snowboarding in 2013 is very good for the sport.

The X Games begin on January 24, and White will no doubt be ready to push the limits of what he has already accomplished. With the sport’s most recognizable face once again strapping on a board for its biggest events, snowboarding is in for a treat in 2013.

Forget Tom Brady, Albert Pujols and Lionel Messi, the most dominant individual athlete in sports today is Shaun White. The snowboarding legend proved his greatness once again at the Winter X Games on Sunday night by achieving a perfect score in the SuperPipe. 

Greatness is not just defined by the number of titles you win, but by the way that you win. White is head and shoulders above the competition, and he carries himself like a star even though he doesn't have an ego problem. 

His run on Sunday night encapsulated everything that White has done throughout his career. It was flashy, but elegant. It was brilliant, but subtle. It was, in a word, perfect.

There have been more dangerous or risky tricks attempted, but what White did was so smooth, so fluid, so textbook that it was more than deserving of the score it received. 

White could have tried something insane to try wowing the judges and giving himself a brief highlight reel moment forever, but instead he kept things relatively simple. He had a plan going in, executed it beautifully and was rewarded with a victory. 

At some point, the other snowboarders are just going to throw their hands up in the air and wonder what it will take to stop this man. Perhaps this is just one of those rare instances in sports where there is no competition left for White. 

We could go through and list all the superlatives that describe White's career as a whole or this run specifically, but it is more fun to just sit back and let him tell us everything that we need to know. 

If anyone ever asks you what perfect snowboarding technique looks like, just click on this video and tell them to study it. They may not be able to duplicate it, but at least they will know what it is. 

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Shaun White cemented his status as the greatest X Games pipe snowboarder and possibly the best rider of all-time last night.

The 25-year-old won his fifth consecutive gold medal in Snowboard SuperPipe and managed to record the first perfect score in X Games history during his “victory” lap.

Colin Bane of XGames.com described the 100-point run in detail.

[The run] included a massive 18-foot backside air, a fronstside double cork 1080, a Cab double cork 1080, a frontside stalefish 540, a double McTwist 1260 and the frontside double cork 1260. White is officially the only person to have ever landed a frontside double cork 1260 in competition.

Those moves are all extremely impressive and the frontside double cork 1260 was the one that put this run over the top and made it legendary.

The judges had no choice but to acknowledge his perfection for having the guts to perform extremely challenging tricks and even bust out ones that have never been done in competition.

The craziest thing is that White was lucky to even compete in the event last night.

According to Bane, the gold medalist had to pull out of the Slopestyle event earlier this week with a left ankle sprain.

He used it as motivation for his epic run.

“I came here on a mission: I couldn't compete in Slope and it kind of broke me.” Said White. “I didn't know what to do. I was sitting around icing my ankle wondering if I could even ride tonight, and I kind of took out a little bit of that anxiety and anger that I couldn't compete in Slope in the pipe tonight."

White is hoping to top his perfect score and continue to add gold medals to his five-peat at next year’s X Games and well into the future. He’s going to be a major factor in the snowboarding world for years to come and will continue to add to his legend with perfect runs like the one he pulled off on Sunday.  

We've always been told nobody's perfect, but Shaun White has never been one to follow the status quo.

The extreme sports star raised the bar once against with a perfect run in Snowboard Superpipe at the X Games. He's the first person in event history to score all 100 possible points, further cementing his legacy as one of the greatest snowboarders ever.

It is White's fifth straight win in the event and 11th Winter X Games gold medal overall. He continues to be the face of extreme sports in the United States and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, especially after yesterday's epic performance.

While there was some concern heading into the run that White's bothersome ankle would affect his chances of winning, once he pulled off his first trick (video above) it was clear he wasn't going to be holding back anything.

By the time he finished, there was little doubt who the winner was going to be. It just came down to what score White was going to receive, and the judges decided there wasn't a single thing to deduct for on the entire run.

The only problem with giving him a perfect score is figuring out what he can do next. White has always been one to push the envelope in an attempt to discover and create new tricks. He'll need to go back to the drawing board if he's going to one-up himself.

As a two-time Winter Olympic medalist, it continues to get harder for him to show off something people haven't seen before, but somehow he keeps doing it.

He just has to hope there isn't any “Flying Tomato” fatigue from the judges because he wins all the time. So far that hasn't happened.

All told, there are few athletes as dominant at their sport as White is in snowboarding. If a perfect score doesn't prove that point, nothing will. Every time it seems like the crowd might be catching up to him, he'll put on a show like he did on Sunday night to separate himself once again.

Enjoy his brilliance while it lasts, because there may never be another extreme sports athlete quite like him again.

Shaun White’s black-and-blue ankle won’t stop him from going for the gold.

An ankle injury would hold most X-Games athletes back from being able to legitimately compete for the gold, if not hold them out of competition altogether.  But White isn’t interested in watching this year’s winter games from outside the lines.

ESPN’s Colin Bane reported on Friday that White’s sprained ankle that he injured in a practice run would keep him out of the Snowboard Slopestyle.  The action-sports superstar voiced his frustration to the media saying that:

“I'm disappointed.  My priority this year was to ride in Slopestyle, and unfortunately I hit my ankle again riding the course in today's practice.  I'm going to rest up and get ready to ride Pipe on Sunday.”

And he did just that failing to disappoint.  In the SuperPipe elimination round, he placed a Run 1 score of 88.66 which led the pack.  His performance definitely didn’t scream I can’t walk without a limp.

According to Bane, White talked about missing the Slopestyle further saying:

“It was just brutal to sit one out.  I was just sitting on the bed with ice, doing nothing.  I talked to the doctor, I was like, ‘what do I gotta do?’  He was like, ‘you've gotta rest.’”

That rest looked like it paid off as White is well on his way to winning yet another gold medal in the SuperPipe.  If he ends up being the last one standing despite his unfortunate injury, the feat will make his dominance mean that much more.  Elite competitors are able to play though pain and White is showcasing just how elite of an athlete that he is.

David Daniels is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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Sunday is the final day of Winter X Games 16 from Aspen, Colo., and the annual weekend of exciting competition is sure to go out with a bang.

Snowboarder extraordinaire Shaun White is expected to defend his Snowboard SuperPipe gold medal, only adding to the fireworks.

The last day at Winter X Games 16 features such final events as Men's and Women's Skier X, Mono Skier X, Snowboard Best Trick and of course Men's Snowboard SuperPipe (7:45 p.m. ET, ESPN) to round out the evening.

If the Pro Bowl's uninspired action is getting boring and so is NHL All-Star postgame chatter, sports fans would be wise to flip over to the "Flying Tomato" for some prime-time entertainment as he goes for a fifth-straight SuperPipe gold.

The Olympic champion has set the standard for greatness at the event over the past few years and will be the favorite to take home the top honor again this Sunday, despite having aggravated a sprained ankle earlier this week.

The injury caused White to drop out of Snowboard Slopestyle, which he has claimed gold in four times during his career.

"I'm disappointed," White said on Friday, according to ESPN.com. "My priority this year was to ride in Slopestyle, and unfortunately I hit my ankle again riding the course in today's practice. I'm going to rest up and get ready to ride Pipe on Sunday."

White will be the main attraction Sunday night. Without any meaningful NFL action because of an awkward, two-week Super Bowl layover, snowboarding may, just for one night, dominate American interest like White dominates the Pipe.

He is one of the rare household names who participates in the X Games consistently, both winter and summer, and he is a lock to deliver based on his experience, clutch effort and overall athletic advantage far above the ground.

Shaun White's absence from the Winter X Games is a shame.

He is the most polarizing athlete in the games, and he generates more interest in snowboarding than just about everyone else combined.

That isn't a knock against the other athletes or the sport. It's simply a fact.

White is one of the greatest athletes in the world, and he brings more to snowboarding than anybody brings his or her respective sport. In the Bloomberg BusinessWeek Power 100, White ranked as the eight most powerful athlete in the world.

Even though he's not as powerful as other athletes, he dwarfs any other snowboarder.

Essentially, White is one of the main reasons people tune into the X Games. Unfortunately, he was forced to pull out of the snowboarding slopestyle.

Although it's not his best event, White still had the ability to do well. With the injury, though, he was unable to even compete.

And that's where the problem lies.

When White doesn't compete, the Winter X Games lose their luster.

White is so great, and people simply want to see him on a snowboard. With him out, it just doesn't seem right. There have been some good performances, but nothing as memorable as what White can generate.

White is a legendary competitor, and when he is missing, things seem off.

With his absence, there seems to be an odd shadow over the WX this year.

Hopefully, White will return and have something special for everyone.

If you want to know how important the Winter X Games are to the athletes that participate in it, look no farther than superstar snowboarder and X Games legend Shaun White.

White is literally the biggest name in extreme sports other than Tony Hawk, being that even casual extreme sport fans know who he is.

He's a marketing genius, as he's found his way into commercials, movies and even the front of a Wheaties box.

That goes to show you how far extreme sports have come, when a snowboarder is on the iconic cereal box dedicated to the worlds greatest athletes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcpRUx7lGBo

The sport is where it's at because of guys like White, and that makes him a legend.

Unfortunately, being a sports legend doesn't come without it's fair share of bumps and bruises.

According to Colin Bane of XGames.com on ESPN, White aggravated a sprained left ankle in practice and will have to pull out of the Snowboard Slopestyle event.

One would assume that means the end of White in Winter X Games 16, but he's apparently going to suit up and ride for yet another gold on the Snowboard SuperPipe.

Considering he's hurting, this shows a ton of dedication to the sport, but it also shows how important the X Games are to these winter sport competitors. Bane quotes White in his report saying that the X Games is the place where he loves to step up:

But as much as he loves Olympic glory, White says the Winter X Games are still the ultimate proving ground for a snowboarder.

"Every year we try to outdo ourselves, and X Games is the place where we like to display what we've been working on," White said at a news conference Wednesday, the first day of Winter X Games 2012. "Especially for me, this is it. This is where I want to come and I want to do my best tricks and show the other riders what I've been working on. That's definitely why we're here, to step it up."

While they are certainly fun and intriguing, these games mean a lot.

Don't kid yourself—White can do whatever he wants as far as the sport is concerned. He's literally untouchable.

He doesn't have to ride the SuperPipe—he has absolutely nothing to prove. His ankle is hurting and riding more could potentially hurt it worse, yet he still is competing.

This is how much the Winter X Games mean to a guy like Shaun White, who doesn't even need them to get his name out there.

Consider that next time you watch him, or any of the other competitors out there. They love this, and it really means something.

That will really change your perspective of the Winter X Games.