Shaun White Is Damn Near Perfect In His Winter Olympics Comeback

After a poor showing at Sochi 2014 and a scary practice fall  that left him with 62 stitches on his face last October, snowboarder Shaun White  took a spectacular step in his comeback at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

On Tuesday, the two-time gold medalist posted a 98.50 on his second run to lead the qualifying into the men’s final of the halfpipe. That’s near-perfection.

The 31-year-old reacted, as expected, to the score.

“I’m excited,” he said.

“I started seeing everyone putting these great runs in and I figured I would step it up ,” White told NBC Sports. “They motivated me to send it on that last one.”

The final will take place on Wednesday (Pyeongchang local time).