Shaun White, on His Farewell Tour, Prepares to Throw His Last McTwist

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Shaun White was at the bottom of the halfpipe, chatty and relieved, just as the sun was sinking. He was talking about making it through to another Winter Olympics final, two days away, and maybe, just maybe, finishing his career, at 35, with another gold medal.

But he could not help but be nostalgic, too. This is a farewell tour, after all, his fifth and final Olympics, which means that White has three rides left, all on Friday (Thursday night in the United States). He mentioned Jake Burton Carpenter, the founder of Burton Snowboards, who died in 2019. Carpenter gave White a snowboard at age 7 and set him on a course to becoming the most famous snowboarder in the world.

“Here we are today because of that,” White said. “Maybe I could be that for the next generation.”

It was a humble thing to say because White already is that for the next generation. He has been that for a long time.

White was one of the last competitors to ride in qualifications on Wednesday. When it was still unclear whether he would advance to the final, other top snowboarders talked about him as a sort of snowplow for their own careers — leading the way for all of them to make a living on a snowboard, to turn the halfpipe into one of the Olympics’ must-see events.

How many of them would be here without White? How many cameras would be aimed their way?

His rivals spoke of White in the present tense. White is not some creaky antique. He is not here as a favor. He earned his way onto the U.S. team, which is always a challenge. It was during that chase this winter that he realized this would be it. He ended any thoughts of four more years, of the 2026 Olympics in Italy.

“I was pretty excited about maybe attempting Italy, but these injuries and then Covid, all these things coming up, I just took it as a sign that, you know, this would be an amazing last run,” White said.

There are three runs left. He is still relevant, all the way to the end. The final will feature not only White, but a lot of tricks that White invented.

Scotty James of Australia, a favorite to win here, first competed in the Olympics with White in 2010, when White won his second gold medal.

“I got to see him win that gold medal and then a few other times, and he became my rival,” James, 27, said. “It’s a funny evolution from him being someone I looked up to, to then being someone I had to try to show up and beat.”

As White flashed back to his start at age 7, and wondered aloud how he might pay it all forward when he retires from Olympic-level competition, he held his snowboard tight, logo out.

He recently started his own company, called Whitespace, with his brother, though it is unclear just what Whitespace will be. Maybe a company like Burton, selling snowboards (White now rides a Whitespace-branded board) and clothes and such.

But it sounded like White was not going to disappear.

“Just because I’m not competing doesn’t mean I won’t be here at the next Olympics, cheering on all my friends and being a big part of the sport,” he said.

He pulled himself back into the present, back and forth as smoothly as he rides the transition zone between hits in the halfpipe. Minutes before, he had put down another in a line of clutch performances.

He stumbled on the first run, under-rotating a double McTwist 1260, a trick he invented and that has been a part of his Olympic run since 2010. He killed time waiting for his next turn — maybe his last Olympic turn — going up the lifts, riding, thinking.

What if he flubbed the run again? Family was watching at home, worried this was how it would end. Reporters were gathered at the halfpipe, wondering if a fall on a trick he invented would be the sad coda to the sport’s best career.

White landed the trick and the run. There was relief in that.

“I’m living the other version where I actually do what I came here to do and put down some heavy runs in finals, and try to hit that podium,” he said. “I get my shot now.”

He politely excused himself from the cold, the last to leave the base of the pipe, having done an hour’s worth of interviews with television broadcasters and reporters from all over the world.

He seemed to enjoy the attention, and seemed relaxed about what was ahead. None of the people paying attention to snowboarding for the past few years reasonably expect White to win another gold medal. But they know he might.

For the first time, he will be an underdog. But reaching the final put him in an elite class, still separated from most of those he inspired to ride. No matter what happens, White will slide away in his prime, if not quite his peak.