White eyes perfection in pipe and own form
ROSA KHUTOR: American Olympic snowboarding champion Shaun White hopes both he and the halfpipe snow will be in better shape when he goes for a third straight gold medal at the Sochi Games today. Official training for the event was postponed yesterday as warm weather turned packed snow to slush and left organisers struggling to get the pipe in top shape for Tuesday’s men’s competition.
“It’s a little disappointing, it’s hard to get in there and have all the tricks and have everything that you need and not to be able to get to the wall,” the American told reporters, admitting he had a “pretty terrible” practice.
White had already pulled out of Saturday’s slopestyle at these Sochi Games because he felt the course was too dangerous. His team mate Danny Davis described yesterday’s conditions as “garbage” and several other riders expressed frustration during halfpipe practice.
White admitted it had not been just the pipe that was to blame for his poor form on the day. “Today it seemed as if I was taking off where everyone was landing and it created this hole,” he said. “I was just getting caught in this hole, so I’m hoping to get over the hole and feel better. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.
“I just had a frustrating practice.” White lauded the decision to postpone and then shorten yesterday’s practice in order to ensure the best possible conditions for today’s men’s contest. “Today they had a smart decision where they shortened practice, the more chewed the pipe gets the worse it is to reshape it for the next day,” he said.
“They’re talking about shortening practice for tomorrow which would help dramatically, the less traffic through the pipe the longer it will hold up.” White has won the last two Olympic gold medals in halfpipe, in Turin in 2006 and four years later in Vancouver. —Reuters