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Updated at 6:30 p.m., Sunday, January 25, 2009

X-Games: Shaun White wins superpipe gold on final run

By PAT GRAHAM
AP Sports Writer

ASPEN, Colo. — Snowboarder Shaun White was trailing going into his final run, his tricks betraying him as he wiped out on his first two attempts.

Pressure?

Please. Not for Shaun White.

The "Flying Tomato" put it all together on his final run to become the first athlete to win back-to-back titles in the superpipe at Winter X, edging out Kevin Pearce tonight.

White also won the slopestyle event the day before, capping off a remarkable competition for the boarder known for his flowing red locks.

"That last-run pressure does it for me," said White, who now has a record nine gold medals at Winter X. "It just comes out of me."

That was apparent as White smoothly put together a solid final attempt, his backside rodeo putting him over the top.

"I knew I had the run in me," he said. "I had to put it down."

Pearce churned out a fabulous run as well, only to be beaten by White.

Or did he?

"If he has a massive score his name propelled him into it," ESPN commentator Todd Richards said before the score was revealed.

When it was, Richards added, "I don't agree with that at all."

White wasn't about to quibble. Judges score, he just rides.

"What did you think, Kev?" White asked in a middle of a news conference.

"I think you killed it, man," Pearce responded.

So much for the great debate.

White was just as impressed with Pearce's performance, even wanting to steal a trick or two from the young rider.

"Kevin's run was unreal. I just loved his first hit. He's so stylish," White said. "I want to copy the trick, but I can't. Too cool."

Waiting at the bottom of the slope for White to venture down was an anxious exercise for Pearce. He had a feeling that White was going to do something special.

And he did.

"It's not a position I want to be in ever again," Pearce said, smiling.

The silver medal helped soothe the bruises of a rough weekend. Pearce crashed in a slopestyle practice session, giving himself a black eye and a cut that required three stitches. He pulled out of the big air competition due to the fall, then just missed out on qualifying for the finals of slopestyle as White grabbed the last spot from him.

"Shaun has been riding great all night, all week," Pearce said.

Antti Autti of Finland took third.

White can't believe he finally broke the jinx that befalls a defending champions at Winter X.

"I was getting really nervous. I mean, like maybe it is kind of a curse," White said.

Turns out, it wasn't.

___

PUSHED ASIDE: Daron Rahlves got hooked from behind, someone clinging to his left arm just long enough to shear his speed in the finals of skier X on Sunday.

That grab cost him any shot of defending his title at Winter X.

Stanley Hayer of Canada won the event on a day when the Americans weren't at their best. Rahlves finished fourth and Casey Puckett, a two-time winner in skier X, didn't make it out of qualifying.

"That kind of ruins the ESPN show, doesn't it?" Hayer said, laughing. "We are all kind of no-names. This sport is deep. Anyone can win on any given day."

Rahlves was an accomplished alpine ski racer before switching over to skier X, an event that combines speed, jumps and guts as skiers battle for position going 40-plus mph.

He likes to use his downhill and super-G background to his advantage, but never got the chance Sunday. Rahlves was right with Hayer and Hiroomi Takizawa, the silver medalist thanks to a photo finish, when he was yanked from behind.

"That contact just blew it for me," said Rahlves, who claimed he was slowed by a Swedish skier. "I couldn't try any last moves."

It wasn't an ideal course for Rahlves, who prefers a hard, fast slope to one that's covered in powder.

"I couldn't go. The brakes were on there in the powder," said Rahlves, who made three Olympic teams before retiring from skiing after the 2006 season. "It just wasn't working."

It was for Hayer, even if he wasn't the crowd favorite.

"We are in America and Daron Rahlves is the big name here," he said. "But he's earned it. He's a warrior."

___

DAVID'S DAY: Ophelie David of France had to work for her third straight gold in women's skier X, nosing out Magdalena Jonsson at the finish.

That was a far cry from last year when David led wire-to-wire.

"I wasn't doing as well and had to do my best at the end," she said.

Jonsson thought she had the win, before being edged out.

"I said, 'Wahoo, I've won.' And then I slowed down," said Jonsson, who got stuck in some fresh power near the finish. "I could not believe it."

___

MONO SKIING X: As his fellow competitors were crashing around him, Tyler Walker kept his composure, expertly navigating the course to win his second gold in the mono skier X competition.

"You always count on the unexpected, but that wasn't part of my arsenal," said Walker, who was born with a condition where his spine was missing from the first vertebrae. "I was able to stay upright the whole time, but just barely."

Silver medalist Sam Ferguson took a tumble right out of the gate. However, he caught up with defending champion Kees-Jan van der Klooster, who was having trouble of his own, wiping out on two separate occasions.

"I had a little bit of a wobble early, but I stayed persistent," Ferguson said. "I knew I would be able to get back on course. Anything goes in this game."

___

RECOVERED: T.J. Schiller wouldn't call his return to skiing a comeback.

Schiller, who won gold in the slopestyle event Sunday, doesn't feel like he ever really left.

The Canadian missed Winter X last season after he tore the ACL in his right knee trying to land a jump a week before the competition.

But he kept his head in the game.

"I watched ski movies, read all the magazines," Schiller said. "Every day I went to the gym thinking about skiing again. I trained hard and stayed stoked. So I'm crazy stoked right now."

Sammy Carlson took second and Colby West was third.

Tanner Hall withdrew from the competition due to the snowy conditions.

___

QUICK HITS: Snowmobiler Joe Parsons won his second gold medal of the competition, capturing the freestyle title Sunday night. "Definitely mission accomplished," said Parsons, who won speed and style earlier in the week. ... The total prize money handed out to the athletes was more than $1.1 million. ... The attendance for the four-day event was 68,100 fans, slightly down from a year ago.