By Bill Oram

Shaun White is coming back to Utah, but it isn’t for the greatest snow on earth.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist snowboarder will compete on his skateboard at the summer Dew Tour in Salt Lake City on Sept. 16-19, tour officials confirmed.

White, who owns a house in Park City, won the Aug. 15 tour stop in Portland, Ore., his first time back on the Dew Tour since 2008. After July’s X Games, it was his second time skating since winning Olympic gold in snowboard vert at the Vancouver Games in February.

“I think it’s great to have somebody that crosses over from winter sports and kind of that winter Olympic genre that the fans in Utah are so familiar with,” said Jeff Robbins, president of the Utah Sports Commission.

White, 23, also won gold in the Turin Olympics in 2006. He initially said in Portland that he was unsure if he would ride in Salt Lake City, but after besting stars such as Bob Burnquist, Pierre-Luc Gagnon and Bucky Lasek on the halfpipe, he told media he planned to compete here.

In Portland, much of the focus was on White being able to transition from snowboard to skateboard so quickly, and be able to remain at a high level. He said that is just what he has always done.

“I never consider myself just a snowboarder, I’ve always have felt that I’m both,” he said. “I was 20 years old and that was the only time that it had matched. I was winning most of the skate events and I just won all the snow events.”

The Dew Tour is a four-day action sports event, featuring stars of BMX, skateboarding and motorcycle cross. The Salt Lake City event, the Toyota Challenge, is the fourth in five tour stops. The final stop is the Dew Tour Championships in Las Vegas in October.
The finals for skateboard vert, the only event in which White will ride, are at 2 p.m. Sept. 19 in EnergySolutions Arena.

Tickets start at $15 and can be purchased at www.SmithsTix.com or at the EnergySolutions Arena box office.