The pipe is finally looking prime

Photos by Chris Owen and Jeff Baker

Shaun White kicked ass today in the pipe and won the gold. Mad respect to Shaun for landing new tricks and continuing to push the progression of snowboarding. Shaun proved once again that he is the best pipe rider on the planet and if winning the gold wasn't enough, Shaun decided to land a Double McTwist 1260—in his victory lap. This kid is nothing short of amazing and now Shaun has two back-to-back gold medals in Torino 2006 and now Vancouver.

Shaun's amplitude is at another level

Huge support for EC rider Scotty Lago

A huge method for Scotty Lago's first hit

Scotty Lago, who rode amazing in yesterday's practice, went big all day, unleashed multiple double corks and walked away with the bronze medal. Many say Scotty should have taken the silver, but honestly, it really doesn't even matter—to Scotty. He has some of the best style in the game and his charismatic personality makes him a favorite among fans, the media and even his peers. Congrats to Scotty for grabbing a medal!

Peetu Piiroinen took the silver with large airs all the way down the pipe.

Louie Vito also had a great day by landing consistently technical runs. Louie walked away in 5th place but his back to back double corks were impressive.

Japan's Ryo Aono and Kazuhiro Kokubo went big all day.

France's Gary Zebrowski had amazing qualifying runs but didn't move through to the final.

Greg Bretz was one of the younger riders in the comp at age 19 and threw some killer combos despite falling on both runs.

Mathieu Crepel getting his pickle on

Canada's one and only Dustin Craven was the "forerunner" to the event and gave the crowd some nice inverts

Results:
1. Shaun White
2. Peetu Piiroinen
3. Scotty Lago
4. Louri Podladtchikov
5. Louie Vito
6. Markku Koski
7. Lustin Lamoureux
8. Kazuhiro Kokubo
9. Ryo Aono
10. Mathieu Crepel