Snowboarding: White, Bleiler win at Mammoth

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Shaun White conquered the halfpipe at Mammoth on Saturday afternoon. Vancouver?

Bring it on.

With his snowboarding Grand Prix win, White made the U.S. Olympic team, the first to do so on the men’s side. (On Wednesday, Kelly Clark clinched her spot on the women’s team).

White had finished second to Danny Davis on Wednesday. On Saturday, Gretchen Bleiler won the women’s halfpipe. Elena Hight was second, Hannah Teter took third and Clark finished fourth.

The finish area was more like a mosh pit at a concert, but one TV guy -- am going out on a limb and guessing he was Canadian -- teased White: ‘Stay out of my country.’

White, laughing: ‘I’m coming to your country. I’m coming in.’

The reigning Olympic champion hit two double corks on his first run, which ended up giving him the win. Louie Vito, of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ fame, was second and Jarret Thomas was third. Davis was second-to-last, having botched both of his runs.

White was elated with his performance, and maybe even a bit relieved.

‘It’s great. It just feels like I finally got my priorities in motion and I’m getting there and doing the runs I want to do,’ White said. ‘I feel like if I hang tight and keep riding the way I am, I’m just going to get better and better.’

He has some calls to make regarding a signature double cork trick.

‘Man, it’s a double cork McTwist 1080,’ White said. ‘But that last one was 1260. I’m going to have to pick and choose if I want to just take a 12 and stomp it down or keep a 10. It’s been a trick that’s been kind of messing with me for awhile. I’m excited to try to put it down in Park City and hopefully at the Games.’

So how does White make the choice with so many tricks at his disposal?

‘You know we’ve got a lot of dice up there and we just roll,’ he said, joking.

-- Lisa Dillman

Reporting From Mammoth Lakes