Shaun White named to fifth Olympic team as oldest ever US halfpipe rider

Shaun White was one of four defending gold medalists named to the US snowboarding team Friday, along with Chloe Kim, Jamie Anderson and Red Gerard.

Only White had to sweat out his spot on the team after a difficult month of qualifying that included a bout with Covid-19 and an injured ankle.

He finished third last week at a World Cup halfpipe contest in Switzerland to eliminate any doubt about his spot, and the US Ski and Snowboard team made it official when they announced the 26-person team.

Kim won the gold in women’s halfpipe in 2018, while Anderson and Gerard won in slopestyle.

Lindsey Jacobellis, the 2006 silver medalist, made her fifth Olympics in snowboardcross and Alex Diebold, the wax technician-turned-2014 bronze medalist, is back at the games.

The rest of the team:

Maddie Mastro, Zoe Kalapos, Tessa Maud (women’s halfpipe). Taylor Gold, Chase Josey, Lucas Foster (men’s halfpipe). Hailey Langland, Julia Marino, Courtney Rummel (women’s slopestyle/big air). Dusty Henricksen, Chris Corning, Arvada, Colorado Sean FitzSimons (men’s slopestyle/big air). Faye Gulini, Stacy Gaskill, Meghan Tierney (women’s snowboardcross). Nick Baumgartner, Hagen Kearney, Alex Deibold, Mick Dierdorff (men’s snowboardcross). Robby Burns, Cody Winters (men’s parallel giant slalom)