American snowboarder Shaun White has won Winter Olympics gold for a historic third time in the snowboarding halfpipe.
White has just become the first person to win a trio of gold medals in the sport, attaining the accolade with his third gold by besting the field in Pyeongchang with an unbeatable 97.75 score in his final run.
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White managed to pull out a near-perfect run to steal gold after qualifying in first place:
White was neck and neck with Japanese snowboarder Ayumu Hirano, who’d edged to the front with a 95.25 in the second round.
Yet after White pulled out all the stops, Hirano ended up scoring the silver medal, while Australian snowboarder Scotty James won bronze.
The 31-year-old White is now on top of the Olympic gold medal tally for snowboarding, which was introduced to the Winter Games in 1998.
He won at the 2006 Turin Games and the 2010 Vancouver Games, as well as Pyeongchang. White finished in fourth place in Sochi and commentators were calling this his ‘road to redemption’.
In another epic milestone for the US team, as well as White, his win was the 100th gold won by American athletes in the Winter Games.
NBC dubbed Shaun White ‘the best of US’ in a Superbowl Halftime ad – and on the slopes he’s certainly living up to the gospel according to the American broadcaster.
However, they’ve been criticised for failing to acknowledge a 76-page lawsuit filed against White over sexual harassment allegations.
Drummer Lena Zawaideh, who White hired to play in his band, Bad Things, also alleged wrongful termination, wage non-payment, and other labor code violations.
The full complaint was published on Deadspin in May 2016, including a series of illicit text messages.
A representative for White said about the text messages:
Many years ago, I exchanged texts with a friend who is now using them to craft a bogus lawsuit.
There’s absolutely no coincidence to the timing of her claims and we will defend them vigorously in court.
Meanwhile, White joins fellow American Kelly Clark – who won a gold and two bronze medals – on top of the overall tally for the sport.
Both have three Olympic snowboarding medals each.
American snowboard sensation Chloe Kim produced a brilliant performance to take gold in the women’s halfpipe and has been impressing television and social media audiences with her athleticism.
The 17-year-old won with a score of 98.25 on her final run with China’s Jiayu Liu taking silver and United States’ Arielle Gold winning bronze.
Kim had already secured gold with her first run score but improved to win by eight-and-a-half points, even though, as she tweeted, she was ‘hangry’ the whole time:
After her win – which was watched by the biggest crowd at Pyeongchang’s Phoenix Snow Park – she said:
It means a lot just being able to do it where my family is from.
There was a lot of pressure, but I’m happy I was able to do it here and do it for the fans and the family.
I’m so happy I was able to land and being here is so exciting, this has been a dream of mine.
Her South Korean parents have credited the young sports superstar with being their very own ‘American dream’.
She really is the Best Of US.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.