White survives wreck for victory

ASPEN, Colo. – Shaun White’s face smacked against the halfpipe, his neck snapped back and his helmet popped off and flew 15 feet in the air.

It was a sick wreck in practice Friday night that will be replayed and remembered – maybe even longer than his comeback an hour later that earned the world’s best halfpipe rider a third straight Winter X Games title.

“I’ve paid my dues for that trick,” White said. “But it’s worth it.”

Still, it was a frighteningly close call with the Olympics only two weeks away.

The 2006 Olympic champion hurt himself on the newest, most unpredictable and most dangerous trick in his repertoire: the Double McTwist 1260, in which he hurtles himself 15-20 feet above the halfpipe, then does two head-over-heels flips and 31/2 rotations.

Sometimes he lands.

He did just that in his first run of the finals – a performance that gave him the winning score of 95.33, which turned out to be 1.67 better than Iouri Podladtchikov of Switzerland.

Sometimes he doesn’t.

That’s what happened in the final run, when he was still, unbelievably, pushing it – going for the perfect score, something he’ll only obtain if he links two easier versions of the jump, then completes the routine with the Double McTwist 1260.

And sometimes it’s a near disaster.

Which was the story during that practice run, when he misjudged his position above the pipe and came down hard, slamming his face against the pipe and falling flat on the ice.

“That trick is just a beast of its own,” White said. “And on some days, it’s just tougher than others.”

He came off the pipe under his own power, but was checking his jaw and mouth to make sure everything was still there. He had a big abrasion on the lower left side of his cheek.