Shaun White will not be competing in the 2016 Aspen Winter X Games. "He wasn't invited," said Winter X Games spokesman Danny Chi, according to the Denver Post.
Despite the brusque nature of Chi's statement, the two-time Olympic superpipe champion has not fallen from the top tier of professional snowboarding. He won the Breckenridge Dew Tour in December, drawing admiration from his competitors. "It was super impressive. You could see Shaun's got the most experience out of all of us," said Swiss Olympic gold medalist Iouri Podlatchikov, according to the Inertia.
White was set to ride in a competition in Switzerland last weekend but pulled out at the last minute and flew home to attend the funeral of a close family friend. White has confirmed that he will compete in the Oslo X Games in February, according to his coach.
While White did not compete in the 2014 Aspen X Games either in order to prepare for the Sochi Olympics, he has ridden in every other Winter X Games since 2000. He holds 23 X Games medals in total, including 15 golds, the most of any X Games athlete.
The full story behind the falling out between White and the X Games has yet to arise. It's no secret that White has fallen out of favor with a significant portion of the snowboarding community. He has travelled the road that exceptionally successful and good looking athletes across all sports walk (see Tom Brady). Regardless, public opinion could not be the deciding factor for this strange twist in the 2016 Aspen Winter X Games.
