ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Living legend of snowboarding, American Shaun White, three-time Olympic halfpipe champion, 35, will offer himself a last stand at the park of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games (February 4-20 ), where her compatriots Jamie Anderson and Chloe Kim are also eagerly awaited.
The twilight of a giant
Talent never dies. At an age when most surfers have already hung up their boards, Shaun White will play the fifth – and probably last – Games of his immense career.
Covered in gold three times (2006, 2010 and 2018), the Californian, less imperial than in his finest hours, had to work to punch his ticket to Beijing.
“We are going to China! What an incredible evening. I’m happy to still be able to do descents like that at this stage of my career, ”he said after securing his qualification in mid-January by finishing third in a World Cup stage in Switzerland.
The best snowboarding record in the world will have a hard time facing the Japanese Ayumu Hirano (23), leader of the general classification of the World Cup and double Olympic silver medalist.
Genting is America
Even if White failed to clinch another gold medal, the American flag could fly more than once on the Genting Park podiums.
Her compatriot Chloe Kim, also a halfpipe specialist, is the favorite to claim a new title after that of PyeongChang four years ago.
The Californian had become in South Korea, the country of origin of her parents, the youngest Olympic champion in the history of snowboarding, at only 17 years old.
Jamie Anderson also has a date with history in China. Already crowned in 2014 and 2018 in acrobatic descent), she can join White in the annals of snowboarding in the event of a third coronation.
The 31-year-old American could even surpass the master by doing a double jump in the big jump, a discipline in which she finished silver in PyeongChang.
Ledecka, first round
Is the feat still possible? Double Olympic champion four years ago in alpine skiing (super-G) and snowboarding (giant parallel slalom), unheard of, the Czech Ester Ledecka will in any case try to do it again.
It will start with snowboarding, her chosen discipline in which she won two world titles and the overall World Cup standings four years in a row between 2016 and 2019.
“When I’m on my skis, it happens at high speed. When I then switch to snowboarding, I feel like I have more time for everything”, testifies the 26-year-old “skisurfer”, who will then go to the second mountain site of Yanqing for the super-G three days later.
