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Photos: Shaun White's Olympic goodbye
U.S. snowboarding legend Shaun White finished just off the podium in fourth at his fifth Olympic Winter Games.
Competing in the final contest of his long, storied career, U.S. snowboarding legend Shaun White finished just off the podium in fourth at his fifth Olympic Winter Games.
The sport's elder statesman put together a strong second run, cleaning up a cab double 1080 he had trouble landing on his first to score an 85.00. An earlier run from Swiss Jan Scherrer, 2.25 points higher, ultimately held for bronze, dealing White an identical result to his finish in Sochi eight years prior.
The 35-year-old concludes his career a three-time Olympic gold medalist, a 13-time Winter X Games champion and six-time World Cup event winner.
In a video shot before the final, White said, "everybody watching, I love you, thank you for the support, and what's gonna happen's gonna happen and I'm excited about it, it's gonna be a great day."
White entered his fifth Olympic final as the No. 4 qualifier behind Ayumu Hirano of Japan, Aussie Scotty James and Japan's Ruka Hirano, and for the first time ever at the Games was not considered one of the favorites to win gold.
The snowboarding icon told TODAY last month that this would likely be his "last run," then confirmed the decision at a pre-Games presser. He said he realized it was time during a surreal moment while alone on a chairlift watching the sun go down.
White took more than three years off from competition following his victory in South Korea. He began the 2022 U.S. Olympic qualifying period just off the Aspen podium in fourth, then took eighth at Copper and seventh at Dew Tour before landing a third-place finish at January's Laax Open to essentially seal his monumental fifth Games berth.
The Carlsbad, California, native just missed making the 2002 Olympics at age 15. JJ Thomas, now his coach, was the rider who took the team's last spot. Four years later he made his Olympic debut at the Torino Games as a mop-haired 19-year-old.
White went on to win back-to-back golds in Torino and Vancouver before claiming a third in PyeongChang by landing back-to-back double cork 1440s on his final run.