Shaun White announces his L.A. event will be held weeks after Olympics
Shaun White never has just one thing on his plate. So while he’s busy trying to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team, the snowboarding icon is preparing to host the fourth edition of Air + Style.
The Los Angeles edition of the event will run March 3-4, just a few weeks after the halfpipe competition in the Pyeongchang Olympics on Feb. 14.
White, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, is trying to qualify for his fourth Olympics.
“I can’t wait to come home from the energy of the Olympics to Air + Style Los Angeles,” White said in a press release. “The festival is a combination of all my passions sport, music and culture and the fact it happens in my home state of California and in Downtown LA, makes it even more special.”
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The event pairs a snowboarding competition with a music festival, and this year will feature skateboarding for the first time. Rather than the traditional big air jump, Air + Style will include urban snowboarding.
Both competitions will feature live music, with Phoenix and Zedd headlining, along with Gucci Mane.
Big air will make its return for Air + Style Australia in August. The event will be contested in the Olympics for the first time.
White, 31, will be trying to secure his spot on the halfpipe team.
He finished third overall and as the second American at the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain last month before failing to make the Dew Tour final.
Riders need a top-three finish to make the Olympic team. But given the depth of the American field, more riders are likely to do that than there are spots, so they’ll qualify based on their top two results.
Qualifying moves to the U.S. Grand Prix in Snowmass, Colo., this week and Mammoth Mountain, Calif., before the team is named on Jan. 20.
After missing the Dew Tour final last month, White said, “I got the excitement and I don’t know if you call it the fear in me still of now I’m hungry to make the team."