Vancouver 2010 halfpipe champion Shaun White has revealed he’ll be back to bid for a third Olympic gold medal - as long as slopestyle is added to the Sochi 2014 programme. The 23-year-old captured his second consecutive Olympic gold medal with a stunning performance at Cypress Mountain, racking up an incredulous 48.4 points for his second run, after treating the crowd to his new secret weapon - the Double McTwist.

White is the marquee name of snowboarding - he made an estimated $8m in sponsorship last year, while according to Forbes magazine he tops the Winter Olympian rich list. And he continues to pioneer new tricks and set standards, not only in halfpipe snowboarding, but also slopestyle - an event in which he is a five-time X-Games champion.

Slopestyle - where riders perform tricks while going down the mountain - along with halfpipe skiing - is among those sports being considered for inclusion at Sochi 2014 as the International Olympic Committee continue their bid to appeal to wider and younger audiences.

And White, whose Games were over after his success on Wednesday, as opposed to the likes of Lindsey Vonn or Bode Miller, who will have five outings in Vancouver, is in favour of slopstyle’s inclusion.

“I think I’d love to compete in both,” White said. “It’s a strange thing going to the Olympics, where so many people have four, five events and we just have the one big night. I’d love to compete in other things. It’s kind of a heavy thing to have a one-hitter.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 19th, 2011 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Riders.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.