KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia – In an Olympic stunner, Shaun White failed in his quest for three straight halfpipe gold medals Tuesday, falling to Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov.
In fact, White didn’t even win a medal.
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Podladtchikov, known as the “I-Pod,” landed the trick he invented, a 1440-degree whirling jump he nicknamed the “Yolo” jump.
White tried that jump twice but flat-out fell once and couldn’t land it cleanly the second time.
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Podladtchikov scored a 94.75 on his second run, putting all the pressure on White, who went last and had fallen in his first try.
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White didn’t come through and finished fourth.
The Japanese pair of Ayumu Hirano and Taku Hiraoka won silver and bronze, and the Americans were shockingly shut out of the halfpipe medals for the first time since the sport was introduced to the Olympics in 1998.
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