J2Ski New Zealand J2Ski logo
Facebook

Snow Matters - Ski News

Snow Mail

Shaun White to skip Slopestyle - citing risk

Shaun White to skip Slopestyle - citing risk

Published : 05-Feb-2014 04:13

Definitely in the "we didn't see that coming" section!

Following injuries to several athletes on the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park slopestyle course, top snowboarder Shaun White has announced he will not compete in slopestyle.


Photo : Reuters via the BBC

His focus will solely be to bag a (third) Gold Medal in the halfpipe.

"With the practice runs I have taken, even after course modifications and watching fellow athletes get hurt, the potential risk of injury is a bit too much for me to gamble my other Olympics goals on," White said.


After Norwegian snowboarder Torstein Horgmo broke his collarbone in practice on Monday, the courses three jumps were reduced by a total of six foot. Despite the changes, White was amongst various boarders who took falls, as was Finnish snowboarder Marika Enne who had to be stretchered off after hitting her head in a crash on the final jump.

Canadian athlete Sebastian Toutant reported that the course felt like "jumping out of a building"!

 Join the conversation : Discuss this in the J2Ski Forum

This news item has been viewed 3,226 times.

Also on J2Ski :-  Rosa Khutor  Snow Forecast