If I had a dollar for every time I write something along the lines of "Shaun White wins again" I'd treat all of you to ice cream.

Shaun White, the human snowboarding robot, laid down another absolutely perfect run at this weeks FIS World Cup Halfpipe competition in New Zealand. This comes right on the back of his win at the Burton New Zealand Open just last week.

Two for two ain't bad, especially right at the start of an Olympic season. This is starting to smell oddly familiar of White's last Olympic season in 2005/2006. The season that has been dubbed "Shaun White's Perfect Season".

During White's "Perfect Season" he won everything he entered, including the 2006 Winter Olympics Halfpipe Gold Medal. That year he won all five Grand Prix Olympic Qualifiers. He won the Winter X Games (both pipe and slope). He won every professional snowboard competition he entered that year, upwards of 17 competitions. And, as though the point hadn't already been made, he took Gold in Skateboard Vert at the Dew Tour. Point made.

Fast forward to this summer. White put skating on the back-burner to focus solely on snowboarding. With his Olympic aspirations clear, he spent a good portion of the summer on the glacier at Mt. Hood, Oregon sneaking up to the hill after the lifts shut down to work on his new tricks. Well, he wasn't really sneaking. His team of people arranged for him to have the mountain literally all to himself, away from the "common people" and screaming fans.

During these special private training sessions at Mt. Hood no media was allowed, the pipe was freshly cut, and the snow stayed firm but still forgiving from the days heat. It was an idealistic situation to cultivate new tricks and add to his already chock repertoire. This is when and where White perfected his double cork's, the impossibly hard and cool-as-hell-to-watch tricks that have raised the bar drastically in snowboarding halfpipe. (And just in the nick of time for Vancouver.)

Because of the hush-hush centered around his training, none of White's major competition had a chance to see what he was up too. Rumors flew, but they didn't know exactly what tricks he was learning, nor were they privy to such a perfect training set-up. As far as going up against White this season, the competition was blind.

White's cannon-ball start to the season wasn't earned without a little bit of a fight. Other riders, slightly clued in with whispered rumors about White's progression as well as fueled by the looming Olympics, have come up with their own impressive variations of the double cork. Riders like Danny Davis, Luke Mitrani, Danny Kass, Louie Vito, and Scotty Lago (to name only a few) have all shown that they aren't easily willing to play second fiddle. If White wasn't in the picture it would be hard to say who the current top pipe rider in the world was. But, as seen in New Zealand, White's calm consistency and unexplainable style is currently trumping any efforts to take that title from him.




Shaun White claims victory yet again. Iouri "iPod" Podladtchikov of Switzerland and Kazuhiro Kokubo of Japan round out 2nd and 3rd at the New Zealand F.I.S. World Cup



"It's one thing to do a double cork but another to perform it in competition." White summed up after winning the New Zealand World Cup. In the finals, although they attempted, no one was able to land their double corks except, of course, the infallible Shaun White. He scored a jaw-dropping 47.1 points out of a possible 50.

The Burton Open just the week before was a similar story, with only White and Luke Mitrani able to land double corks in their final runs. They led the pack, 1st and 2nd respectively.

"I have some new tricks in store but I don't think I'll be revealing them right now." White said with a humble smile after his latest win. And with that comment White lays the bait for the competition to catch up and give him a run for his money, he's more than ready for the challenge.

For the sake of suspense and good competition let's hope that White's competitors do step up and close the gap in talent and skill that White so abruptly widened this month. But as it stands now, Shaun White is well on the way to a second perfect season and another Olympic Gold Medal.

Snowboard history was made this past weekend on the south island of New Zealand at a tiny valley resort called Cardrona during the first major Snowboard competition of the year... the 2009 Burton New Zealand Open. For the first time in competition riders were attempting the double cork 1080 spins. And they were landing them.

Much of this progression lends itself to the fact that these top riders are all vying for a coveted spot on the Olympic Snowboard Halfpipe team. Only four team spots will be given to the males for the United States, and with over a dozen American riders all skillful and qualified to make the team, many consider the race to get on the U.S. Olympic Snowboarding Halfpipe team much more interesting and competitive than the actual Olympic Competition itself.

Check out Shaun White's winning run from New Zealand with back to back double corks.



And then check out Luke Mitrani's double cork that landed him in the 2nd place position on the podium.