Thu, 02/18/2010 - 12:04pmWhite takes Gold at Winter Olympic Halfpipe finals

Shaun White has done it again, with an unstoppable run, he clinched Gold in Vancouver and even had time for a victory lap

International super star Shaun White has once again shown the world quite how powerful he is by taking the winning spot in the Olympic halfpipe on Cypress Mountain in Canada.

The line up for the competition was insane with riders reaching massive heights out of the pipe and dropping double corks as par for the course.

The Japanese riders really stood out and with a fiery style it was a shame none of them ultimately made the podium, which was to be graced by three familiar names: Shaun White, Peetu Piiroinen and Scotty Lago.

Watch highlights of the finals on the BBC to check out the ridiculous amplitude these riders are now after.

But when you're there check out our UK representative, Ben Kilner, who after just missing the 2006 Games finally secured enough points to breeze into Canada, and who did a damn fine job of showing how far the British have moved up the rankings in the last couple of years.

Despite an overall finish in 18th position Ben laid down a textbook run that he has been building to for the last four years, rocking out with a massive backside air, perfect front 10, switch 7 to front 9 and managing to squeeze a big back 5 in right at the end of the pipe. HIs efforts rewarded him with a score of 32.1 and place in the semis. Disappointingly for Ben he couldn't stick his landings in both semi runs and didn't make the finals.

Even though there were notable exceptions to the line up at this year's showdown (Kevin Pearce, Danny Davis and Freddy Austbo all out with injuries) the finals were an incredible battle. Peetu Piiroinen followed through from his BEO winnings to destroy the pipe and ride away 45 points and the silver medal. He dropped a massive frontside air, double cork Cab 10, frontside cross bone Lien air, back 9 and 1080. Scotty Lago took the bronze medal and notably didn't drop a double cork but laid down some more stylish tricks with a lovely front five half way down the line, in addition to his massive backside airs, front 10 and back 9s.
But the hero of the show was Shaun White again who, having won the competition based on the score of his first run (46.8) hit his 'victory lap' second run guns blazing, massive backside air (6.5m), double cork to double cork to a beautiful front 5 stale and finished off with the much anticipated 'Tomahawk' (named after a steak) and scoring a massive 48.4. Needless to say he was ecstatic.

Watch out for more halfpipe action tonight where Lesley McKenna will be flying the flag for Team GB