The cogs have been greased, the two-dollar coins have been inserted and the hype machine is in full swing surrounding this year’s Winter X-Games in Aspen. As has largely been the case for the past few years, it’s looking like the flying tomato/ginger haired wonder/leopard print wearer or whatever you wanna call him, Shaun White is going to be the man to beat. With his win over Mark McMorris in Slopestyle at last years Euro X-Games and footage of him riding away from a triple cork in Breckenridge a week ago, competition between the two is undoubtedly going to be fierce.

New footage from yesterday’s practice session shows Shaun getting incredibly close to putting down a triple backside 1440 on the money booter on the Slopestyle course. Will Shaun become the first rider to stomp a triple cork in a slopestyle run (as opposed to on a single jump in a big air competition)? Mark McMorris tried one at the Burton High Fives in New Zealand a few months back but hasn’t attempted the trick since. Will it all come down to who has the cleanest triple cork on the final kicker? If so, the field will be immediately narrowed to Shaun, Mark, Sebastien Toutant, Maxence Parrot, Torstein Horgmo and perhaps Stale Sandbech – if they all get through today’s elimination stages of course. Either way, it’s safe to say that we’re in for one hell of a showdown.