Shaun White competes in the final round of the of the FIS Snowboard World Cup 2017 men's snowboard halfpipe at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain on Feb. 5, 2017 in Mammoth, California.
Two-time Olympic champion Shaun White won Sunday’s snowboard halfpipe competition at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain, California, giving the legendary snowboarder his first world cup victory in four years as Team USA earned its third podium sweep of the day.
The last time White mounted a world cup podium was December 2013, when he took third in slopestyle at Copper Mountain, Colorado. His 18th-place finish at Copper last December was the first time he had not won a world cup halfpipe competition he’d entered since March 2001, when he placed fifth in his cup debut. The three-time Olympian, who holds 18 Winter X Games medals, including 13 golds, last won a halfpipe world cup on Feb. 1, 2013, in Park City, Utah.
His last international wins were March 2016 at the Burton U.S. Open and December 2015 at Dew Tour. At last week’s X Games, he was 11th of 12 competitors.
White smoked the competition by laying down a 94.75 on his first run, a score no one could touch. Ryan Wachendorfer was the only serious challenger, scoring 90.75 on his second run to earn his first world cup podium, while 2010 Olympian Louie Vito picked up his first podium since January 2013 by scoring 83.25, good for third place.
Americans dominated the top 10, taking the first five spots and eight of the top 10: Greg Bretz was fourth (82.25), 2016 Youth Olympic champion Jake Pates fifth (81.75), Chase Josey seventh (70.00), Brent Esser ninth (68.50) and Chase Blackwell 10th (67.25).
