Rosa Khutor, Russia – Following a broad range of complaints by athletes that the Olympic Slopestyle course in Sochi is too dangerous, U.S. snowboarding star Shaun White announced today that he’s withdrawing from the competition.

White said that the decision will allow him to focus on winning an unprecedented third straight gold for Team USA in halfpipe at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.

“After much deliberation with my team, I have made the decision to focus solely on trying to bring home the third straight gold medal in halfpipe for Team USA,” White said late Wednesday. “The difficult decision to forgo slopestyle is not one I take lightly as I know how much effort everyone has put into holding the slopestyle event for the first time in Olympic history, a history I had planned on being  part of.”

White did not indicate what effect, if any, his injury on the controversial slopestyle course had in his decision to withdraw from competition. White jammed his left wrist in a hard fall during Tuesday’s slopestyle training, after which he termed the Olympic course “a little intimidating.”

“Shaun is the consummate professional and has made a sound athletic decision. We anticipate an outstanding slopestyle debut on Saturday but also respect the importance to Shaun to keep his focus on winning a third halfpipe gold,” said U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) Snowboarding and Freeskiing Director, Jeremy Forster.

The USSA indicated that an alternate would not be entered with qualifications for Saturday’s finals scheduled for tomorrow.

Slopestyle snowboarding will make its Olympic debut with qualification runs Thursday and the men’s finals opening the Games on Saturday. Training begins on Saturday for Tuesday’s men’s halfpipe finals.