Shaun White nabbed his fourth straight gold medal in the Superpipe competition at Winter X Games on Sunday, which is exactly what we expected from the man who defines the sport, and most winter games.

Even in this non-Olympic year the snowboarding star has never been more popular. According to Bloomberg's 2011 Power 100 ranking of athletes, released last Thursday, Peyton Manning is the only athlete with more star power than White right now.

That means the crossover boardsports star (he's a skater too) ranks higher than Tiger, Lebron, Armstrong and Brady for on the field performance and off-the-field popularity, endorsement power and trustworthiness.

And while White's 11th Winter X gold medal earned him another weekend in the prime-time spotlight not all went as planned in his quest for global domination.

His failure to qualify for the final in Men's Slopestyle shocked many insiders. Slopestyle has been a signature discipline at X Games and international events for years. And while they're still unconfirmed, some smoke signals emerging from officials in the know indicate it's all but certain to be added to the Winter Olympic Games in Russia for both snowboarders and skiers.

White plans on coming home with two more Olympic gold medals from Russia if that's the case.



His slopestyle resume appears rock solid. Five of his eleven Winter X Games gold medals have been earned on the giant downhill course filled with rails, flat tops and kickers. But his last gold on it came in 2009, which is eons ago in a sport that's evolving at a rapid pace.

White, along with many Olympic stars, took a breather from slopestyle training during the buildup to Vancouver. Subsequently a new generation of boarders managed to keep pushing the discipline to new levels and establish a toehold during international competitions and high-profile specialty events.

One of the biggest surprises of Winter X was the slopestyle podium was owned by Sebastien Toutant, Mark McMorris and Tyler Flanagan, the three youngest competitors in the field.

For now, White's playing catch up.

"He has to overcome a generation of riders whose inspiration to snowboard competitively was spawned by Shaun's past X performances," says Pat Bridges, editor of Snowboarder Magazine. "His hiatus to focus on halfpipe gave these guys a chance to rise up the slope ranks unabated, minus all the White mystique which continues to hinder his halfpipe peers."

Bridges has watched a divergence of the two disciplines unfold as each gets more specialized. It's harder to be at the top of both. While he has little doubt that White is capable of anything he sets his mind to, he notes the road will be tougher in slopestyle. Finding the same secret-training luxuries in slopestyle that he managed to find in halfpipe is unlikely.

"And no two slopestyle features are exactly the same," says Bridges. "Whereas halfpipes are uniform. For a guy who has had halfpipes custom built to Olympic and X Games specs this could pose a huge problem. Sure he could utilize the same airbag training setup which propelled him to the top in Vancouver but the chances of replicating a real world slopestyle course is almost impossible because of the lack of standardization."

Truth is, If he's going to make an honest effort at a gold in Russia the fact his he'll have to jump out of his hermetically sealed Lamborghini long enough to mix it up with his unwashed fans and contemporaries who film his every move, and post it up for public consumption within minutes, and therein lies what's arguably the biggest hurdle for White.

"It's been fun watching his journey over the past decade," says Bridges, "But the requisite distractions that come with being the celebrity and brand that he is today are significant."


Shaun White (top) flying through the Aspen night en route to his fifth straight Superpipe gold;
(Bottom: from right to left) Before Tyler Flanagan, Mark McMorris and Sebastien Toutant swept the podium at Winter X Games, they were taking over events like Snowboarder Magazine's The Launch. Photos: Huggy/Snowboarder.

Sunny skies created the perfect conditions for the ultimate showdown at today's slopestyle eliminations at the Winter X Games. Buttermilk Mountain was the place to be for all the action as sixteen of the world's best snowboarders battled it out on the massive slopestyle course. The world class riders were all laying it on the line, all vying to make it in the top eight to secure a spot in Sunday's finals.

To say that today's contest was one of the most progressive to date is a vast understatement. The current level of slopestyle riding is super heavy and the talent pool is deep. Today set the precedent for upcoming contests as it's pretty much mandatory to throw at least one double cork 1080 in a run if a rider hopes to make it into finals.

The young guns of the field were dominating the course today and it looks like we're tapping into a new era of slope stars. Sebastian Toutant is on fire this season and qualified in first today with a highly technical run. Toutant looked so comfortable on all of the features and solidly landed all of his tricks. His flawless run included a cab double cork 1080 on the first jump and another huge backside double cork on the money booter at the bottom. Tout's run was so incredible that it was scored a massive 97.0 which is the highest slopestyle score in X Games history.

The previous record was a 95.0 which was held by Shaun White, who unfortunately did not make the cut, and will not be in finals. This is the first time in nine years of competing in slopestyle events at the X Games that White failed to make it into the finals. This was SW's first slope contest in over a year and it was more than apparent that the level of riding has progressed exponentially in just a single year.

White stomped all three of his runs, but his tricks weren't as technical or smooth as the other riders. On his third run, it looked like SW gave up in the middle section because he didn't even attempt to throw big tricks. He spun a mellow backside 540 and finished the run with a solid straight off the bottom jump.

When interviewed about his performance, White was humble and noted that the level of riding is super progressive right now, and he's glad to know where he's at among other riders. On his Facebook page, SW posted, "Slopestyle today at X Games was insane, level of riding was all time. Congrats Seb Toots!"

Today's event felt more like a final than an elimination and Sunday's finals are going to super extreme as the top eight riders battle it out for the gold.

It's going to be nuts.

Shaun White is a darn good snowboarder, and the two-time Olympic gold medalist and X Games legend plans on reminding everyone just how good this weekend at Winter X Games Fifteen. But he's also got a pretty serious fetish for fast cars. You may recall that just before the Vancouver Olympic Games last year Bob Simon of 60 Minutes revealed White was already on his second Lamborghini; he wrapped his first one around a tree. Undeterred White keeps feeding his passion, even carrying it into his X Games wardrobe. Now he's even lending his name to the BF Goodrich team in order to gain some fine-handling skills from their famed drifting squad. Something tells us White may have embellished his driving credentials while working this deal out. I mean, shouldn't they have known he couldn't drive a stick?

Last night Oakley had a media and athlete soiree to celebrate the start of X Games 15 and to announce Shaun White's new partnership. It was pretty clear who the new sponsor was considering that the first thing you saw when entering the ultra swank Viceroy Hotel in Snowmass was a race car littered with Shaun's name and BF GoodRich logos.

It was apparent that BFGoodrich had swooped up Shaun as a magical marketing tool, but the extent of the relationship remained unclear until Shaun showed up and spoke to the crowd about his new sponsorship. Before SW took the mic, everyone was a twitter at the thought of Shaun becoming a race car driver. A pretty farfetched idea, but he was pictured driving a race car so it seemed plausible.

All of these thoughts were dispelled once a video was shown of Shaun actually attempting to drive the car. Apparently the extreme athlete (who owns lamborghini) doesn't know how to drive manual transmission. The video of him trying was actually pretty funny and Shaun kept telling the crowd he was determined to get better.

The big announcement was pretty much that Shaun has signed on with a new company, will be making more money, and now we'll see commercials with BF Goodrich and Shaun. Rumor has it the company paid for TV spots before and after Shaun's X Games runs, so be on the lookout for those.

Check out all of the clips of Shaun driving here: www.bfgoodrichtires.com/shaunwhite

Here's the totally un-extreme press release BF Goodrich sent out about their new partnership. Enjoy!


ASPEN, Colo. (Jan. 27, 2011) - Professional Athlete Shaun White has accomplished much in his storied career in action sports - he's a two-time Olympic Gold medal winner, the most decorated athlete in Winter X Games history with 15 medals, a four-time medal winner at Summer X Games and a nine-time ESPY award winner. Now Shaun White will work to upgrade his driving abilities with the help of his newest partner, BFGoodrich® Tires. The multi-year "Upgrade to BFGoodrich" campaign featuring Shaun White kicks off at ESPN Winter X Games 15 in Aspen, Colo.

"I'm looking forward to a great partnership with BFGoodrich Tires," said Shaun White. "I've always been fascinated with cars and I'm excited to work with the BFGoodrich team on my performance driving."

For decades, BFGoodrich tires have been known to automotive enthusiasts as the ultimate performance upgrade to their vehicles. The brand has the credentials to upgrade White's driving skills with 17 Summer X Games Rally medals, a rich on-road racing history and 70 wins on the dirt in Baja under its belt.

Taught by BFGoodrich specialists and a special group of professional drivers known as "TeamBFG," White is learning how to upgrade his driving performance, with all of the action captured in a series of webisodes featured at www.bfgoodrichtires.com/shaunwhite. Highlighted throughout the webisodes will be the ease with which drivers like White can upgrade their driving performance on BFGoodrich tires - from rally racing control to road course technique - many of which can be applied on the everyday commute.

"Shaun White is all about performance and pushing the limits when it comes to competing and having fun, and BFGoodrich Tires is all about performance upgrades and fun amplified," said Jamey Fish, Director, Consumer Experience, BFGoodrich Tires. "Through our 'Upgrade to BFGoodrich' campaign, we are literally upgrading Shaun's driving performance on BFGoodrich tires."

"Shaun's shown everyone what he can do in the world of extreme sports, now we're going to share with Shaun, and all enthusiasts, what we do best," Fish added.

The first webisodes featured on www.bfgoodrichtires.com/shaunwhite document White's initial experience with BFGoodrich Tires. The first to show White the ins and outs of what it takes to be a performance driver were TeamBFG members Samuel Hubinette, Summer X Games RallyCar SuperRally bronze medalist and Formula Drift champion, and Lars Wolfe, Rally America competitor. A few techniques learned on day one include buckling a five point harness; dealing with crushed cornering cones caused by a Viper drift machine; and a considerable amount of shifting, cornering and burnouts.

BFGoodrich Tires is an official sponsor of the Winter X Games and has fixed signage and jumbotron spots; commercials featuring Shaun White airing on ESPN; print advertisements in ESPN The Magazine; and digital advertisements on ESPN.com and ESPN3.com.

In addition to the advertising campaign that launched at Winter X Games and webisodes available on www.bfgoodrichtires.com/shaunwhite, White and his brother Jesse designed the look of a Vermont Sports Car rally vehicle with BFGoodrich g-Force Rally tires in which White will be training later on this year. A replica of the White-designed vehicle will be given away in 2011 to one lucky consumer through a giveaway courtesy of BFGoodrich Tires along with other unique Shaun White-inspired prizes. Details on the giveaway and other consumer prizes will be announced at a later date.

With the X Games right around the corner, the mainstream media is all vying for a piece of the upcoming action. Snowboarding's golden boy, Shaun White, is a media machine and provides all the hype these various news outlets are looking for.

CNN touts themselves as "the Worldwide Leader in News" and yesterday, they lived up to this title by running a piece on Shaun White in a TV and web series called Revealed. The program bases itself as a show that "gets under the skin of the world's brilliant thinkers, creative champions and inspirational leaders." Apparently, Shaun White, the snowboard and skateboard star, fits perfectly into this category so his life and accomplishments were highlighted.

The three-part program shed light on SW's upbringing, his undeniable talent, and how he's gotten to this current pinnacle in his life. It's pretty much the same interview we've seen from Shaun multiple times on various media outlets. His sponsors and coaches speak of his greatness and his brother Jesse chimes in that this is Shaun's destiny.

We've heard it all before, but what's interesting is that Shaun alludes to the fact that he doesn't really like to snowboard anymore. He talks about needing time away from the sport to be able to get back into and to reinvent himself. Everyone talks about how Shaun "loves the pressure" but if he loves it so much, then why does he need to take a break from it?

Much of the cookie cutter interview was shot in China during the Oakley and Shaun White Air and Style Beijing. This footage gives the piece a tad of originality, or at least enough to watch all three parts.

See what you think. Shaun White: Revealed.