Canada's Mark McMorris flips off a jump during the slopestyle snowboarding final at the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013, in Breckenridge, Colo. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
December 15, 2013 - 1:04 PM
BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - Shaun White has pulled out of the season's first Olympic snowboarding slopestyle qualifier after spraining his left ankle the day before in the halfpipe finals.
About 30 minutes before he was scheduled to run Sunday, White posted a picture on his Facebook account of him sitting on the couch with his ankle in a bucket of ice. His message: "#RoadtoCouchi had to pull out of Dew Tour slopestyle finals because of ankle sprain from superpipe."
There are four more qualifiers for slopestyle, which is making its Olympic debut in Sochi next February.
Riders get points based on their best two performances, so White could still qualify for the U.S. team. But the next contest is next weekend. No word yet on whether White will compete.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013