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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 11:52 p.m., Saturday, January 24, 2009

X Games: Shaun White wins snowboard slopestyle

By Brian Gomez
The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.

ASPEN, Colo. — When it comes to Winter X Games records, Shaun White hates sharing.

The "Flying Tomato" made few errors and performed a seldom-seen, high-flying trick Saturday at slushy Buttermilk Mountain to win the snowboard slopestyle final for his record eighth Winter X gold medal and 13th overall.

A 2006 Olympic gold medalist, White, 22, of Carlsbad, Calif., beat Scotty Lago by two points and Norwegian Mikkel Bang by five points, rewarded for covering 75 feet on a maneuver between tables.

"You expect that from Shaun in every contest," Lago said. "Everyone, in the back of their mind, they're kind of like, 'Who is going to get second?' You have to have the best run of your life. I felt like I was pretty close."

White skipped a post-competition news conference to prepare for snowboard superpipe qualifying, where he placed first. Breckenridge's Steve Fisher took second, and Elijah Teter was third.

Women's snowboard slopestyle

Jenny Jones of Great Britain edged Canadian Spencer O'Brien by executing a front-side 720 (two rotations) on the final jump of her last run.

Men's snowboarder X

Olympian Nate Holland outlasted Graham Watanabe and Norwegian Stian Sivertzen for his record fourth straight title.

Women's snowboarder X

A 2006 Olympic silver medalist, Lindsey Jacobellis pulled away from Norwegian Helene Olafsen and Switzerland's Sandra Frei for her sixth Winter X medal. She has five golds.

Skiing big air

In fan voting via text messaging, Simon Dumont routed Sweden's Jon Olsson with a double-front 1,080 (three rotations).

Snowmobile SnoCross

Tucker Hibbert matched Blair Morgan's record by claiming his third straight title. Canadian Robbie Malinoski followed, and Dan Ebert withstood Levi LaVallee for third.

Mono skier X

Kevin Bramble topped eight qualifiers for Sunday's final.