After holding the early lead from his first run, Californian Shaun White slipped to second behind his much younger rival, Ayumu Hirano of Japan. In the third, and final run, he had to put in the run of his life to claim his third career gold medal.
Landing a 1440 was not likely to be enough, heย would have to match Hirano with back-to-back 1440s.
And he did. White, who is a minor investor in Mammoth Resorts, soared high above the pipe, ran off a run of staggeringly difficult tricks and landed them all. He opened up with a frontside double cork 1440 followed by a cab double cork 1440. It was the combination he had tried to land in New Zealand back in October, which resulted in him needing 62 stitches on his face!
White said he had never landed the combination before, not even in practice.
The result, a 97.75, won him his third gold medal.