Shaun White finishes a valuable third in slopestyle contest

Shaun White, king of the snowboard halfpipe through the last two Olympics, is trying to conquer a new event, slopestyle, at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

This weekend, he took an important step toward qualifying for the U.S. team in that discipline.

Though dealing with a nagging injury, White finished third at a U.S. Grand Prix contest in Copper Mountain, Colo. The result met an objective criteria for Olympic qualification. He was also the top American competitor.

“This is top-30 finish, top American finish, so I’m very happy,” White told the Associated Press.

Slopestyle has boarders descending a run full of jumps and other obstacles. White’s run featured a gap cab 270 to 270 out on the down-flat-down, a frontside 270 to 270 out on the down rail and a 50/50 gap to frontside board fakie out on the battleship rail.

If all of that sounds complicated, consider the challenge facing judges who must rate contestants on various categories including technical difficulty and creativity.

Staale Sandbech of Norway won the event, with countryman Torstein Horgmo in second. Chas Guldemond of Reno finished fifth and remains in a strong position to make the American team.

“I’m going to just start focusing on me and really start working on those big tricks,” he said.

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