Shaun White was a record-breaking snowboarder. Now, he’s started a new competition to unify a ‘disjointed’ sport

Shaun White has helped organize The Snow League which he hopes will revolutionize winter sports. AAron Ontiveroz/Denver Post/Getty Images via CNN Newsource

When it comes to knowing a thing or two about snowboarding, there’s nobody better than Shaun White.

White is arguably the greatest of all time in his field, having won 23 X Games medals – including 15 golds – and holding the record for the most snowboarding Olympic gold medals with three.

Now that he’s hung up his board, White has turned his attention to improving the life of the next generation of winter sports athletes.

To do so, the snowboarding legend has organized The Snow League, a new format to help athletes showcase their abilities as well as accumulate qualification points for next year’s Winter Olympics in Italy.

The inaugural season begins with the opening event Friday in Aspen which will see the best snowboarders take to the slopes; freeskiing will be introduced to the league’s second event later in the year with all the action being shown on NBC.

Between its revolutionary head-to-head format and more unified schedule, White is hoping his new venture can provide a platform for snowboarders to excel, something which he says he picked up from his own career.

“This is something that I wish that I had when I was competing in my competitive years,” the 38-year-old told CNN Sport.

“And I just noticed that that the entire snowboarding season and winter free ski season was just really disjointed, there was no connecting thread, just like any traditional sport. You can check in and find out how your favorite team’s doing or your favorite tennis players, soccer team, whatever.

“So we’re not reinventing the wheel there, but it’s something that the sport desperately needs. And I’m excited to be the one to usher in this new era of winter competition. It’s just taking this sport to a new level and showing a professionalism that hasn’t been there before.”

A new dawn

The first season of The Snow League will have four stops, beginning in Aspen before heading to China then returning to Aspen and finally finishing in Switzerland.

The ability to regulate events was a key reason for organizing the new format.

“Sometimes, (the organizers of current events) will host competitions at mountains that they don’t have the infrastructure to make the best half pipe or the best facility,” White said. “So can you imagine if you showed up to a playoff basketball game and the wood of the court was warped or the hoop was of the wrong size or shape?

“It’s like you need a standardization and you need a quality control when you do these events. And it brings out the best in the athletes. And then what’s exciting is we’re doing the biggest prize purse that there’s ever been in the sport. So we want to make sure these athletes are paid and equal pay for men and women.”

Not only will athletes be able to earn Olympic qualification points in a simpler route, according to White, but the more direct nature of the Snow League will result in more fierce competition.

White says he sought to include head-to-head battles between competitors having tapped into his own experience, suggesting it will also help first-time viewers understand the stakes involved as it resembles other sporting events.

“(It’s) something like you would see in a March Madness. Currently, the setup is you show up at an event, you get a group of athletes, riders, and they do three runs and they pick a winner,” White explained. “So if you never really seen the sport before, it could be very confusing.

“Now, this head-to-head format, you’ll see this athlete vs. this other athlete, three runs, best two scores take you on to the next round. But it’s going to build that drama, that excitement. And these athletes really have to bring out the best of their abilities to win each round to make it to the finals. And this will be now stretched across an entire season.

“So if someone has a bad day at a particular event, it’s not over. They can still fight their way back to the championship and win that trophy.”

Although The Snow League’s first event in Aspen will just host snowboarding events, freeskiing will be added to the schedule as the season goes on – and some of the biggest names in the sport will be taking to the slopes to compete for the inaugural championship.

White picked 2022 Winter Olympic gold medal winner in the halfpipe, Ayumu Hirano, as the favorite in the men’s snowboarding competition, while also highlighting the US’ Lucas Foster as a potential dark horse, with White adding: “Rumor has it he has a few tricks he’s hoping to unveil.”

On the women’s side, White said snowboarder Maddie Mastro is an athlete he thinks is ready to “burst the bubble” and said that China’s star freestyle skier Eileen Gu will be a favorite once she joins the competition in the event in her home country later in 2025.

Learning

For arguably the biggest name in snowboarding, White has a plethora of experience to rely on when it comes to change.

Having had two open-heart surgeries before he was even a year old for a congenital heart defect, White quickly blossomed into one of the most promising competitors in his arena.

But his choice of sport didn’t come without its challenges.

“I came into a sport that was really misunderstood. And even my principals at my school were like: ‘Wow, we just don’t find your sport legitimate. It’s not on our list of sports. It’s not tennis or horseback riding, ice skating,’” White remembered.

“So people really didn’t understand it. And it was looked at as a daredevil sort of sport, and I felt like my entire career was out there trying to legitimize the athleticism of what it takes to actually do what we’re doing.”

He burst onto the worldwide stage at the 2006 Winter Olympics with a dramatic comeback to win halfpipe gold before retaining his title four years later.

White missed out on a medal in Sochi in 2014 and just months before the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, he suffered a heavy crash in New Zealand which required 62 stitches and put his participation in doubt.

Despite this, White was able to compete and capped off a remarkable turnaround with another gold to cement his name in the history books.

White described his career as a “beautiful synergy” between his own personal growth and the expansion of the sport. And after retiring having finished fourth in Beijing three years ago, he wants to help the next generation reach “new heights.”

“I just feel like if there was a way for me to give back to the sport in the next generation of athletes, like this is it,” White said of The Snow League. “It’s like creating this tour and putting these athletes on the pedestal and just showing what they’re capable of.

“I saw a gap in the market and something exciting to do. And I got to call these athletes and I’m like: ‘Look, I’ve lived the life you’ve been living for the past 20-plus years. Now, I’m on this side of the fence, let me help. Let me be a conduit to make change.’ I feel like I’ve got this voice within this sport, so I’m going to use it. I’m going to use it and help some help some other athletes out.”

Article written by Ben Morse and Coy Wire, CNN