Shaun White paid tribute to late designer Virgil Abloh at the Beijing Winter Olympics with a custom Louis Vuitton luggage set

• Shaun White shared an Instagram photo of himself holding a Louis Vuitton snowboard case.

• The case is part of a custom luggage set made in collaboration with White's snowboard brand Whitespace.

• White announced on Saturday that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics would be his last competition.

Snowboarder Shaun White paid tribute to late designer Virgil Abloh at the Winter Olympics on Saturday with a photo of his custom Louis Vuitton snowboard case.

White, 35, posted the photo on Instagram with the case that was part of a luggage collaboration between his snowboard brand, Whitespace, and Louis Vuitton. Abloh served as artistic director of menswear at the fashion house before his death in November 2021.

The caption of the photo, featuring White standing in front of the Olympic rings reads, "Virgil was here."

The three-time Olympic gold medalist also pinned a comment from former Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn to the top of the post, which says, "Man he was such a great human."

Whitespace unveiled the collection on Instagram in January, which also features two pieces of luggage and a guitar case. White plays guitar and previously performed as lead guitarist with the band Bad Things.

In a separate Instagram post, White talked about the first time he met Abloh while training at Mammoth Mountain in California. He said they "quickly became friends over a shared passion for snowboarding and design" and that he later called Abloh for advice on launching Whitespace. The two collaborated on the luggage set after Abloh expressed interest in designing the snowboard trunk.

"In the short time, we knew each other, Virgil had an infectious energy and excitement when we talked about design," White said. "His passing came as a shock to everyone. It saddens me to know he never got to see the finished product, but I know that he would have loved it."

According to the brand, the luggage set was created in Louis Vuitton's atelier in Marsaz, France.

"6 Louis Vuitton artisans worked over 250 hours to complete these two new pieces, requiring around 100 steps to assemble, much of which was done by hand," Whitespace shared on Instagram.

White announced on Saturday that the Beijing Winter Olympics, his fifth Olympic games, would be his last competition. In an interview with Insider's Meredith Cash before the games, he spoke about the challenges he will face at the games this month.

"Every single time I go to the Olympics, it just presents a new challenge," White said. "There's always something exciting or new to be gained or done. And now being one of the older competitors, or actually unfortunately the oldest competitor, I'm really proud of that. That's really awesome. It's not a downer to me."

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