page_title: Shaun White
section_title: 2009
hierarchical_section_title: Shaun White / Career / Snowboarding career / 2009
caption_attribution_description: Richard Branson and Shaun White at the Virgin America OC Launch.
context_page_description: Shaun Roger White is an American professional snowboarder, skateboarder and musician. He is a three-time Olympic gold medalist. He holds the record for the most X-Games gold medals and most Olympic gold medals by a snowboarder, and has won 10 ESPY Awards.
context_section_description: There was a lot of controversy over who won the 2009 SuperPipe at Winter X Games XIII. Kevin Pearce had 5 hits in the pipe, and all were the same tricks White did in his final run. White, on the other hand, had 6 hits and he started off his run with a big backside rodeo 540 where Pearce started his run off with a big grab. Although Pearce went bigger, he had only 5 hits, and his first hit wasn't as technical as White's first hit. Judges came to the conclusion that White deserved the better score because he started off with a more technical trick and he had 1 more hit than Pearce.  With the win, White became the second competitor, after Tanner Hall, to win a gold medal in the SuperPipe in consecutive years at the Winter X Games. He also won a gold medal in Slopestyle, finally winning gold after 2 straight years of bronze.
  On February 14, 2009, White won the FIS World Cup Men's Halfpipe event at Vancouver's Cypress Mountain. Out of the gate in his first qualifying run, he qualified immediately with the day's best score of 45.5.  With a thumb sprained on an over-rotated backside 1080 in the second qualifying run, he clinched the event with the first of his two runs in the finals.  His first finals run was awarded the highest score ever in FIS halfpipe, a 47.3.
caption: White with Richard Branson in 2009
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