Shaun White Achieves Big Dream Days After Engagement Breakup With Nina Dobrev

The vision was very clear to Shaun White. His ability and charisma had made snowboarding mainstream popular. That snowboarding as a technical craft was gaining more and more recognition, thanks to him. But the next step was to evolve. “I want to leave the sport in a better place than I found it and usher in a new era for the next generation,” the Olympic champion had said to WHBL in March 2025. This was just before he officially launched Snow League, with the first event being a success in Aspen Snowmass.

A lot can change in six months. And even a single difference can sometimes be the whole story. And you know what? Shaun White wants that big change to be about his lasting contribution to snowboarding, keeping aside the turbulence in his private life. He is out there prepping and planning for the next Snow League event, as the Today Show has caught up with him for some insights on the groundbreaking platform.

The 39-year-old himself shared the reel on his Instagram account on September 17, where he spoke about what made The Snow League so unique and yet relevant to the sport. In fact, he gave a glimpse of what’s to come in the next event to be held in China from December 4 to 6. “We have 52 athletes and 30 of them are Olympians,” White said in the interview. “So it’s a huge field of Olympians. And this will be like a nice preview of what’s to come at the Olympics because they’ll actually be earning points at the Snow League to qualify for the team.”

With lasting stakes, the Snow League becomes an important event. And what draws the athletes is the $1.6 million prize purse. “So you’re going to have people battling it out and get a nice preview of what to expect at the Olympics.” Shaun White couldn’t be prouder of the progress he is making. “It’s a dream come true for me to launch this league and really get back to the sport and amplify what the next generation is doing,” the 13-time Snowboarding World Champion said.

The 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics are less than six months away. So, expect the China event to be a spectacle. And we feel this is the perfect project for him to be occupied with, easing the weight of his engagement incident.

Shaun White’s split from Nina Dobrev that no one saw coming

In October 2024, the Olympic gold medalist and the television star, Nina Dobrev, got engaged, taking the next big step in their lives. But less than a year later, they decided to part ways, with People confirming it on September 11. Some sources say it was a mutually consented decision, although not being an easy one, was “made with love and a deep respect for one another.”

However, conflicting rumors note that the Vampire Diaries’ star wanted to get married and have a family, but Shaun White didn’t. Obviously, in the last few days, rumors suggesting the exact opposite had also spread, making it very confusing to decide what to make of it.

They were an adorable couple who met each other in 2019 while attending an event put on by motivational speaker Tony Robinson. The 5-time Olympian didn’t know who she was, and when they were photographed together, White thought they wanted to photograph him. “[Then they said,] ‘Can we get a photo…with her?’” the 2-time skateboarding champion shared in his 2022 interview with People. “And I was like, ‘What’s happening? What’s going on?’ It was actually really funny.”

The dating rumors started flying around 2020, and the couple made it official during the quarantine. They had been perfect together over the years, attributing each other for their success from time to time on social media. Dobrev took to Instagram to write about how amazing her boyfriend was as he was competing in the Winter Olympics in 2022, calling him the “G.(B).O.A.T. = Greatest Boyfriend Of All Time”.

Dobrev has since given an update on her social media of what she’s been up to. And White has also been busy with his snowboarding project, with both of them seemingly wanting to moving on.