After a fall in the first qualifying round, the most successful halfpipe rider in history rose to the occasion Wednesday and pulled off a do-or-die run—and now Shaun White is in the medal round at his fifth and final Olympics.
“I can’t tell you the relief I felt off that last hit,” White said. “It was just the thrill and excitement to be going to finals.”
White, 35, earned the finals trip after he eased up on “The Tomahawk”—a trick he invented more than a decade ago that includes a frontside takeoff and 1260-degree diagonal, off-axis angle.
“I was thinking a lot about that, like, how if the next run went terribly, I’d be standing here, talking to everyone over and over about how I’m still happy to be here, but it sucks,” White said. “I’m so thankful I’m not living that right now.”
He famously nailed it to cap the 2010 Vancouver Olympics on a “victory run” after his gold medal had already been secured.
He has no thoughts about any sort of victory run during Friday’s finals, though. It’ll be there that two-time silver medalist Ayumu Hirano and 2018 bronze medalist Scotty James are among those who will be looking for gold.
White is no stranger to pressure, as he won his third gold four years ago with a near-perfect run on the last day.
“I knew I could do it, and I put the run down, and I’m going to be ready to fight it out in finals as well,” he said.
