iStockphoto / © Jack Gruber-Imagn Images/Ultima_Gaina
3-time Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Shaun White, the GOAT of his sport, was in NYC over the weekend. Happened to be there while one of the largest snow storms in the past decade hit the city so Shaun did the only sensible thing and went snowboarding in Central Park.
The Flying Tomato went riding in front of a crowd of New Yorkers to captured clips of him tearing it up in the most iconic city park in the world.
Shaun White Snowboarding in Central Park
I first caught wind that Shaun White was in NYC via Instagram when I saw a colleague post a selfie with him after an interview that had been several years in the making. So stay tuned for details on that in the coming days.
But then she also posted an Instagram clip of Shaun snowboarding in Central Park, having told her that if he was in the city the next day due to weather he was going to go hit the park with his board, and that’s exactly what he did. Here he is riding over two fellas holding beers in the snow:
National news picked up Shaun White’s pop-up appearance in the park as well:
All of this had me missing NYC a LOT over the weekend. There is nothing better than Central Park after a snowstorm… if you have a Bernese Mountain Dog, which I did when I lived in the City for 10 years. The off-leash hours in Central Park are before 9am and after 9pm and on snow days, everyone within walking distance brings their dogs to the park so they can go wild in the freshly fallen snow. If I still lived in the city I 100% would’ve been there with my Great Pyrenees x Anatolian Shepherd rescue dog who would’ve loved this scene.
Also, I’m assuming everyone here knows Shaun White. He was the face of his sport for years. Shaun has the most X-Games gold medals and Olympic gold medals of any snowboarder. He is the man.
Years ago, I was able to catch a few minutes with him taking tequila shots at the after part for Just Friends, the movie starring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake that Shaun has a small cameo in as himself, and he was as nice of a celebrity as I’ve ever met in my entire life and I’ve met hundreds in this line of work.
He told me a story about how when he was first at the Olympics he had no idea how big of a deal it was back in the United States and wasn’t aware of the hype until he landed back at the airport in NYC and after getting off the plane the terminal broke out in a spontaneous slow clap in his honor. I get chills just thinking about that.