After Led Zepplin, Take That and Kate Bush, it’s now the turn of the Artist Formally Known As The Flying Tomato; Shaun White appears set to launch a dramatic (and no doubt lucrative) comeback.
Just a few days ago, Shaun shocked the snowboard community with an announcement on Facebook that he was taking time out from the sport to concentrate on his music interests:
“It’s a huge career change for me to be doing music but I think my roots will still remain in the sports side of things.”
While some expected this move following the disappointment of missing the medals in Sochi and a recent movie in which it was clear Shaun’s passion now lay with his band Bad Things, the sudden U-turn just three days later has surprised everyone – and must be the quickest comeback since Floyd Mayweather’s last false retirement.
What’s more, he’s done it in style, unveiling a trick which he had presumably been planning to launch in the Olympic finals but which – according to sources in the States – he’d been unable to try thanks to a controversially soft pipe in Sochi.
The latest insane move is a frontside triple 1440, captured here during training at a private pipe prior to the Games. And the name? The YOLT Flip – or “You Only Live Twice” – a direct poke at iPod, the man who dethroned him in Sochi with his signature YOLO flip.
Unfortunately there is no video footage of the trick as of yet, but for now we have this sequence shot. Stay tuned for the inevitable GoPro edit.
“Make no mistake, Shaun’s hungrier than ever,” claimed Shaun White Enterprise’s Asian market co-ordinator Fu Lin. “The trick took weeks to perfect – we built the pipe on a volcano in Kamchatka, which was close to the conditions we expected to meet in Sochi but far from prying eyes. The walls were actually bigger than a standard superpipe and we had to trigger an avalanche to get enough snow.”
Presumably he felt taking some time off before unveiling the YOLT would make it more dramatic, although we can’t help but think it’d have hit home harder if he’d waited more than three days. Still, if it’s good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for El Blanco.
What do you think? Is the ginger top back on top? Or will iPod live thrice? Let us know in the comments below.
