Shaun White’s swan song got off to a dicey start, but it will last two more days with a chance for one last medal.
The three-time Olympic gold medalist had to sweat it out in the men’s halfpipe qualifying round Wednesday in Zhangjiakou, China. He needed to ace his second run after falling in the first, but came through in the clutch to advance to Friday’s final.
The 35-year-old White, who announced shortly after arriving that these Beijing Olympics would be his last snowboarding competition and that he would retire upon their conclusion, recorded an 86.25 in his final qualifying run. That was good enough for fourth place, locking him in as one of the 12 snowboarders who will compete for gold.
