Shaun White cruises to Olympic halfpipe gold

From Sportsbeat staff, in Vancouver

 LINDSEY Vonn may be the queen of the American team but snowboarding superstar Shaun White is undoubtedly king and he captured his second consecutive Olympic gold medal with ease in Vancouver.

TOO GOOD: Shaun White proves far too hot to handle for the rest of his competitors and he collects a second Olympic gold medal (Getty Images)

The 23-year-old from California was on a higher plain than the rest of the field at Cypress Mountain and collected an incredible 48.4 points to coast to victory, while silver went to Peetu Piiroinen of Finland and Scott Lago of the USA collected bronze.

The Flying Tomato, Red Zeppelin, the Animal - he's got as many nicknames as he does tricks up his sleeve. Today,White's halfpipe dominance was rammed home to the world at Cypress Mountain.

Such was the quality of his first run that victory was already assured before his second outing, but White is not one to take his foot off the pedal.

He executed two flawless double corkscrews - his signature trick first shown to the world last spring - in his opening run to collect 46.8 points, a full four ahead of his nearest rival Lago.

Far from completing a lap of honour though, White treated his adoring public to his new secret weapon - the Double McTwist, an inverted aerial in which he flips head over heels twice while spinning 3.5 times and holding the board.

"The progression of this sport has been just leaps and bounds recently, the road has been wild," he said.

"And this victory is right up there with Turin. To come back to the Olympics is one thing. To win it is even better. I'm getting better at this sport thing.

"I'm so excited about landing the Double McTwist, my hands are shaking. Normally I can't even land it."

White has revolutionised snowboarding since bursting onto the scene, bringing a competitive edge to a sport where entertaining used to mean more than winning.

His superiority has catapulted White to superstar status - he made an estimated $8m in sponsorship last year, while according to Forbes magazine he tops the Winter Olympian rich list.

And he continues to push the boundaries of the sport - the Double McTwist, aka the tomahawk or the double eagle is testament to that.

After his first run, the rest of the field were competing for silver and bronze.

Japanese duo Kazuhiro Kokubo and Ryo Aono didn't hold back, but they couldn't keep everything together until the end of their runs.

Piiroinen produced a flawless second run to collect 45.0 points but he didn't have the armoury that White possesses while Lago, under intense pressure to better White, crashed out on his second run.

That gave White the freedom to do as he pleased in his second run - and he didn't disappoint.

  AS IT HAPPENS: Day six of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver

IN PICTURES: American Shaun White collects snowboarding halfpipe gold