Shaun White upset in Olympic halfpipe qualifier after injuring ankle
Shaun White, the two-time reigning Olympic snowboarding gold medalist, finished second in the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships halfpipe event in Breckenridge, Colo., on Saturday after injuring his ankle on the first run.
Greg Bretz took the victory with a two-run best total of 91.4 points, followed by White at 90.4 and Taylor Gold at 89.6.
The Breckenridge event was the first of five U.S. qualifiers for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The second qualifier, next weekend at Copper Mountain, Colo., kicks off the U.S. Grand Prix schedule.
White told NBC that he only “tweaked” his ankle and that he expected to compete Sunday in the snow. He also felt his second run, when he scored 90.4, was one clean trick from being a winner.
“My first hit I think was a little squirrely,” White said during a television interview. “I think that’s what maybe cost me the win.”
Australian Torah Bright, the reigning women’s Olympic halfpipe champion, also won Saturday at Breckenridge.
Bright was an easy winner with 95.4 points on her first run, while Kelly Clark, the 2002 Olympic champion, took second with 90.6 and 13-year-old Chloe Kim, who is too young to qualify for the Winter Games, was third at 89.4 points.
The other top American women vying for Olympic spots were Arielle Gold (fourth at 84.2), Gretchen Bleiler (fifth, 80.0) and Kaitlyn Farrington (sixth, 67.4). Hannah Teeter, the 2006 gold medalist, failed to qualify for the final.
The final three Olympic qualifying events include two stops in California -- at Northstar near Tahoe and Mammoth Mountain -- as well as Park City, Utah.
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