Shaun White Pulls of a Double Mctwist 1260

Shaun White pulled off an insane new trick at the final Grand Prix practice under the lights at Park City, namely a double McTwist 1260. Here’s some footage of White warming up:

Shaun White on 60 Minutes

Video 1:

Video 2:

Snowboarders to Watch Out For This Winter Olympics

With the Winter Olympics 2010 just weeks away, it’s time to start placing our ‘bets’. Here’s a list of some snowboarders I’d watch out for! Good luck riders!

Gretchen Bleiler
Gretchen Bleiler, who earned silver behind Hannah Teter in the women’s halfpipe at the 2006 Olympics, draws attention from fans for her stellar moves in the pipe, as well as her looks. Bleiler, who has dabbled in modeling, has also shown in interest in fashion, as she helped design The Bleiler Collection with Oakley.

Gian Simmen
When the snowboarding halfpipe event was added to the Olympic program at the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games, Gian Simmen, a 20-year-old from Switzerland, was not considered one of the favourites. The competition began with a qualifying round with the top six snowboarders advancing directly to the final. The rest of the entrants took part in a second qualifying round where an additional six finalists qualified for the final. In the opening round, Simmen finished 21st. He scraped through to the final by placing third in the second qualifying round. Once in the final, however, Simmen performed like a champion. Competing in a downpour, he put together two solid runs and won gold. “I can’t believe it,” he said. “I’ve never ridden like this before. Maybe only in my dreams.” Simmen’s has since competed in the Salt Lake City 2002 and the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, but has never returned to the medal podium.

Lindsey Jacobellis
As a two-time world champion and a two-time World Cup champion, Lindsey Jacobellis has dominated the snowboard cross. However, there is one title she doesn’t yet have – Olympic champion. Jacobellis seemed to be on her way to gold at the 2006 Torino Games, but she fell when she attempted a trick late in her run and ended up finishing second. Now the Vermont native is back for her second Olympics, looking to grab the gold that escaped her in 2006.

Hannah Teter
Hannah Teter is back and looking for another gold in the women’s halfpipe to go along with her first-place jewel from the 2006 Olympics. Teter, who is part of a distinguished snowboarding family, has made an impact for doing more than snowboarding in between Olympics – she has also been busy running a charity, Hannah’s Gold. She donates all of her snowboarding prize money to the charity, which helps support a village in Kenya.

Shaun White
Shaun White (read our Shaun White write up here), the reigning gold medalist, is ready to tear up the halfpipe in his second Olympics. The red-headed snowboarder, who is popularly referred to as the “flying tomato,” has dominated snowboarding as arguably the sport’s most popular rider. The ESPY award winner and star of both the Winter and Summer X Games (as White also stars in skateboarding), took gold in the superpipe at last year’s Winter X Games and was named the Burton European Open Overall Champ.

Who are you rooting for?

Who’s Shaun White?

Who's That With Pamela?

If you don’t know then you might want to make sure you’re on the right website. When I first saw his magazine feature (can’t remember which exactly), I wasn’t too sure what to think. Actually, the first thought that crossed my mind was “carrot head” and nothing else (Shaun’s official nickname is Flying Tomato though, so I was close – they’re both kinds of vegetables). Ironically, it was that and not the massive bold headline that piqued my interest. I’m not going to re-write everything that’s already been written about Shaun White like a chazillion times by now. But since 95% of the people who know about Shaun, don’t really know Shaun, I’m going to help you out and give you the best bits.

When & Where (1990): Born on September 3, 1986, in Carlsbad, California, and started snowboarding at the age of 4 (the year is 1990). He has an older brother, Jesse, and an older sister, Kari.

How: Shaun’s mother thought he was a risk on skis so she put him on a snowboard thinking it’d be safer if he just followed his older brother Jesse (where was my mom when I rolled a few hundred meters down the run on my first skiing attempt?).

Surgery (1991): Shaun had to undergo open-heart surgery due to some malformations in his heart.

Post-surgery (1992): The kid starts to snowboard again, but clearly with more passion.
12-and-under Championships (1993): At the age of 7, Shaun entered his first snowboarding contest and won.

Going Pro (1999): By now Shaun had came out on top at every amateur snowboarding contest so at the age of 13, he turns pro.

X-Games (2003-2006): 17-year old Shaun White participates in the X-games and wins a bunch of gold medals in 2003 and in the few years following.
First Injury (2004): In ’04, Shaun suffered his first injury as a result of a torn meniscus in his Knee and had to go through 6 months of rehab.

Rolling Stones (2007): Shaun White gets featured on the Rolling Stone magazine.

More Medials (2007): In 2007, he only manages to grab the Bronze medal at the X-Games, but snatches the gold medal at the Torino Winter Games.

After his victory, Shaun flew back to the U.S. on NBC’s private jet to get an early jump on the star-making process that he knew would soon begin. His new-found stardom changed Shaun’s perspective and put serious coin in his pockets. But more importantly, it raised the bar for him. Shaun is also known for his athlete & gym joke: “I got gold medal. I’m an athlete now. I guess I have to go the gym”.

Some would say that he’s done it all, but I’m sure if he keeps his groove on, we’ll be seeing a lot more in the seasons to come!

Shaun White Drinks the Red Bull Kool-Aid. Will You?

Shaun White

I think Shaun White is a damn good rider and he knows his way around a half-pipe and down the runs. Simply put, I respect his talent and passion for snowboarding. And I know there are thousands of others who feels this way. So when Red Bull stepped up to the sponsorship plate with Shaun White, what did they believe was in it for them? I didn’t write about this when it first came out, because I didn’t think much of it. But I was riding yesterday and couldn’t help but notice all the commercial sponsorships popping up.

Snowboarding is more expensive and requires more dedication than having a full time girl friend (I wonder if anyone will sponsor me to go out with some hot girl), so sponsorships are great. But when I see a sponsor-athlete marriage, it gets me thinking… why did the company do it?

Did Red Bull really think that just by slapping Red Bull logos all over Shaun White’s life, I was going to go out and buy their product? Well maybe if I already was a fan. But if I was a betting man, I wouldn’t put much money on non-Red Bull drinkers to go out and buy the product. But then again, they might try it and love it. Regardless of what Shaun White fans will do, I’m more curious about what Red Bull thinks they will get out of it. What were those Red Bull suits thinking in that boardroom? I wonder if Shaun White was even a dedicated Red Buller himself; after all, it’s not like he needed the wings.

They’re free to do what they wish with their money – they are privately held (not that that has stopped public companies in the past). But after looking at RedBull’s Project X, I think they over did it. I swear, every other frame and pixel has the Red Bull logo. There’s something classy about subtlety, and I think Red Bull completely missed the mark on that. I like their product (I used to go through a case of 25 each week during exams), but now I’m left to question their motives. Do they really have Shaun White’s, and more importantly, the sport’s best interest in mind?

Here’s the Project X Video: