Snowboarding immortal Shaun White announces retirement

Snowboarding heavyweight Shaun White, also known as “The Flying Tomato”, will drop into his final competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The three-time snowboarding champ and Olympic legend has made it clear that the Beijing Games won’t just be his final Olympics, it will also be the last event of his matchless career.

Watch video above to see Shaun White’s Aussie competitor, Val Guseli, break a world halfpipe record

Watch the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on Channel 7 and stream it for free on 7plus >>

After the halfpipe medal round next week, the 35-year-old American legend says he plans to retire from the sport that he put on the international map.

“In my mind, I’ve decided this will be my last competition,” he told reporters on Saturday.

White has been a transcendent force for snowboarding and its most recognisable face for nearly two decades - not just because of the mop of red hair that inspired his unique nickname.

Those locks have since been chopped, and White is now an icon for the sport.

He’s hobbled into his fifth Olympics after a season marred by an ankle injury, a bout with COVID-19, a late unscheduled trip to Switzerland to secure his Olympic spot and, most recently, a training plan that got thrown off schedule during his stay in Colorado in January.

“I’m sort of pinching myself, with how lucky I am to still be here at this age,” he said during a reflective, 45-minute news conference.

White won gold in his Olympic debut in 2006, just the third time halfpipe snowboarding was held at the Winter Games.

The sport boomed in popularity with him at the forefront, and he won gold again in 2010 and 2018. He also has 15 X-Games golds - 13 in snowboarding and two as a skateboarder.

White will hardly be a favourite