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Shaun White out of New Zealand Winter Games slopestyle after training crash

Shaun White

Shaun White reacts after winning gold in the men’s snowboard superpipe final for the sixth year in a row at the Winter X Games, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013, at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colo. (AP Photo/The Colorado Springs Gazette, Michael Ciaglo) MAGS OUT

AP

Two-time Olympic halfpipe champion Shaun White missed the slopestyle competition after a crash in training at the FIS World Cup stop in Cardrona, New Zealand.

White, 26, suffered an ankle injury, according to multiple reports out of New Zealand. It is unknown if White will be able to compete in the halfpipe. Qualifying starts Thursday.

http://instagram.com/p/dI94nMvQZw/

White aims to win double gold at the Sochi Olympics, an eye on his third straight title in the halfpipe and a first in the new Olympic event of slopestyle. He won four straight Winter X Games titles in slopestyle from 2003-06 but took fifth at this year’s X Games.

If White is on his game in slopestyle in Sochi, he’ll have a showdown with Canadian Mark McMorris, 19, the two-time reigning X Games champion.

White’s band, Bad Things, will release its debut album Oct. 8, four months before the Olympics. White said he will tour with the band after the album comes out.

How White’s band became Lollapalooza headliner

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