ZHANGJIAKOU, China — For a time, Shaun White looked like the rider he once was, the one who won three Olympic gold medals, the snowboarding icon who could manufacture dominant performances on demand.
High above the walls of the Olympic halfpipe, White flipped and spun, landing back-to-back double corks, a trick that had once been the front end of progression until White helped make it standard.
He continued down the pipe, laying down a double McTwist 1260, his signature trick that he created more than a decade ago.
White landed his best run of the season, one fitting his final snowboarding contest. But at 35 and in his fifth and final Olympics, White’s best was no longer enough to ensure the kind of supremacy he once enjoyed.
The riders who bested him in the Olympic final took the progression White was part of and built on it, reaching a level of difficulty the veteran rider could only look at in awe.
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White finished fourth in the Beijing Games, falling on the second of back-to-back double cork 1440s on his final run. White took off his helmet and held it aloft as he glided down the pipe, making it to the base before the tears, and the end, came.
“Everybody was asking me what my legacy in this sport has been and I’m like, you’re watching it,” White said. “These younger riders, they’ve been on my heels every step of the way and to see them finally surpass me is I think deep down what I always wanted, to be beaten, to finally walk away without feeling like, I could have done this.”
Undoubtedly, they have surpassed him. Japan’s Ayumu Hirano, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, won his first gold by making snowboarding history. Hirano, 23, became the first to land a triple cork in the halfpipe in a full run.
Hirano saw White’s back-to-back double cork 1440s secure him gold in Pyeongchang four years ago, so he took the progression further. He landed a triple cork 1440 – three off-axis flips with four spins – followed by four double corks on both his second and third runs.
It was enough to beat Australia’s Scotty James, who claimed silver for his second Olympic medal, and Switzerland’s Jan Scherrer, who took bronze.
“I think everyone else who was riding in this comp grew up watching him riding in the halfpipe,” Scherrer said. “I’m sure every single one competing today looked up to him for a very long time.”
After his final contest, the tears flowed freely for an emotional White as he found a way to be content with how his competitive snowboarding career ended. He’d been battling a lingering ankle injury all season, and in practice his back leg had begun giving out.
“I’m proud of what I put down,” he said. “I…
Read More: Shaun White finishes 2022 Olympics without a medal in halfpipe
