Aspen – The magic number for snowboarding superstar Shaun White turned out to be 3,240. That’s 1,080 times three.
White, the 19-year-old snowboard superpipe wizard from Carlsbad, Calif., tapped into his magic reserves in Monday night’s Winter X Games 10 superpipe competition, using three 1,080-degree spins to win his sixth gold medal in Winter X Games competition and his sixth consecutive superpipe event this season.
“I knew on that last run I needed three 10s or I was going to be bummed,” White said. “I think that did a lot for me.”
The reality is White didn’t need all three 1080s (three aerial spins off the wall of the pipe) to collect his record-tying sixth Winter X gold medal (multisport athlete Shaun Palmer also has six). White’s first of three runs through the pipe – the same run that won all five U.S. Olympic snowboard team qualifiers this season – scored well enough to win Monday. After establishing the score to beat (90.33) by landing back-to- back 1080s between front and backside 900s, he tacked on the third big spin move for his final two attempts, landing a clean backside 1080 on his final hit for the top score of 91.00.
Fellow U.S. Olympic team member Mason Aguirre of Duluth, Minn., finished second with 88.66, followed by Scotty Lago of Seabrook, N.H., with 82.66.
“It’s definitely the run I’ve been working on for a while,” White said. “I tried it at (the first Olympic qualifier at Breckenridge) and it didn’t work out as well as it did tonight. But I still have something up my sleeve. I don’t want to let it out of the bag yet, but I definitely have something planned for (Turin).”
The anticipated pre-Olympic showdown between White and reigning superpipe world champion Antti Autti of Finland, the 2005 Winter X gold medalist, never materialized as Autti struggled through his three laps down the pipe and finished sixth at 81.33. Autti incorporated the back-to-back 1080s that won gold a year ago in his run, but never was able to string an entirely clean run together.
Instead, the contest came down to the top Americans, with top-seeded Aguirre stumbling on a Cab 900 on the last ride through the pipe. Danny Kass, the third U.S. Olympian in the contest, struggled throughout the night, finishing 10th after falling on each of his three runs. Olympic teammate Andy Finch of Fresno, Calif., sat out of the competition after injuring his foot in training.
“I wasn’t really feeling any pressure on my last run because I knew I had second place,” said Aguirre, 18. “I’m just hoping I can ride in (Turin) as well as I rode here. There’s going to be a lot more pressure there.”
With two weeks remaining before the Olympic superpipe competition, the level of riding and difficulty of tricks riders are performing is increasing rapidly. It was a year ago White was bumped from the X Games superpipe podium by Autti’s cutting-edge run. White credited the Finn for inspiring his improved performance.
“It sounds crazy, but I would thank Antti any day for beating me at the last X Games because it made me so much better,” White said. “It’s just that once people see what you’re doing, then everybody is gunning for you. That’s just how it goes. Autti knew what he needed to do to win before last year’s X Games, and now it caught up to him. Now he knows what he needs to do for next time.”
Staff writer Scott Willoughbycan be reached at 303-820-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com.
