VANCOUVER, Feb 17, 2010 (AFP) - Snowboarding superstar and defending champion Shaun White won the Olympic men's halfpipe gold Wednesday, dazzling the judges with his tricks - including the gravity-defying Double McTwist 1260.
White scored 48.4 out of 50 in his second run after 46.8 in his first, which was in itself enough to seal the title. Finland's Peetu Piiroinen took silver with a score of 45.0 and Scott Lago of the United States won bronze with 42.8.
Hot favourite White had the luxury of starting his second run knowing he was already Olympic champion - the same situation he faced in Turin in 2006 - after dominating the competition.
When it was clear he had won, White stood at the top of the halfpipe with his arms aloft before setting off again to wow the crowd of 4,400 under the lights at Cypress Mountain.
Speaking about his first run, White said: "Gosh, all I remember was the last hit. Everything was such a blur."
When asked why he attempted even more tricks in the second run, White said: "I just felt like I didn't come all the way to Vancouver not to pull out the big guns. I put down the tricks I've worked so hard on."
"It was the savvy thing to do. Saucy. Keep it weird," he added. "My coach said at the top. Don't do this unless you're gonna stomp it."
White said he was unsure what he was going to do next. "What is next? I don't know. Sleep, and then take on the world," he said.
The American first landed his unprecedented Double McTwist 1260, an inverted aerial in which he flips head over heels twice while spinning 3 1/2 times and holding the board, to win gold at last month's Winter X Games -- adding to his huge haul of medals.
White went last in the final due to finishing top of qualifying and in his two devastating displays the man known as the "Flying Tomato" put himself out of reach of his competitors.
One of the stellar names at these Olympics, 23-year-old White was seen as almost unbeatable at these Games having last month won his third consecutive gold in the X Games superpipe.
The field was missing US snowboarders Kevin Pearce and Danny Davis, both of whom were potential challengers to White's crown but were injured before the Games.
