At the Swatch TTR 6-Star Burton US Open Shaun White won three disciplines all at once: Slopestyle, Halfpipe and Most Casual Entry into the overall top five.
For Shaun White life is something like a perpetual wellness weekend. “When I’m snowboarding I’m recovering from skateboarding,” he says. “And the other way around.” And even at the most important contests, the all-round-athlete shows up fittingly relaxed – recently in the week before Easter at the Swatch TTR 6-Star Burton US Open in Stratton, Vermont.
From video shoot in Japan to contest in Vermont
During his runs White is of course full of concentration. In the Slopestyle contest the 21-year-old with the chili-pepper-red mane delivered a cab 9, BS 9, switch BS 9 and an unbelievably clean BS 1080. His reward: the victory of the day and a jump out of the depths of the TTR tour overall placings into its top 20 – although Shaun has played truant in all but three of the tour’s events up to now. Recently he chose a three-week sojourn in Japan over contest participation. “We had the best snow ever and such ideal conditions that we were even able to film at locations that are normally not rideable,” he said.
Into the top five at the last moment
The next day Shaun also dominated the Halfpipe finals. His victory run was a firework of tricks that no other rider could get anywhere near accomplishing: FS 10 stale off the first hit, cab 10 and FS inverted 5 stale, an ostentations McTwist, and an FS 9 with a BS 9 ender. “Acclimatizing to the Halfpipe contest from a backcountry shoot was easier than I thought,” said Shaun, who also did a Big Air into the overall table at the end of the season, ending the TTR Tour in fourth place.
Shaun White