Shaun White Wins Gold In Halfpipe At The Winter Olympics : The Torch : NPR
Shaun White
Shaun White Wins Gold In Halfpipe At The Winter Olympics
Updated at 10:15 p.m.  ET
Shaun White  pulled off a gold-medal comeback in the halfpipe  and Japan's Ayumu Hirano won silver on the strength of a phenomenal second run.
CORRECTION: An early version of this story reported that  White  had won silver — that was reported after the second run had completed. On his third run   White  won gold.
 White  missed out on a medal back in 2014  when  he  was hurt at the Sochi Games.  He 's now the only snowboarder ever to win three gold medals at the Olympics. And  he  did it by winning the 100th gold medal for the U.S. Winter Olympic team.
After the Japanese snowboarder's rousing run  the pressure shifted to James and  White . James seemed to take a very deep breath before he set off on his second run. The first section was great — but he couldn't get a clean landing on one of his final tricks.  White  came out with energy and speed — but  he  fell midway through  and mustered only 55 points.
The situation reversed in the third and final run  when  White  earned a 97.75 and both of  his  top rivals fell during  their  attempts.
This is the second Olympic medal for Hirano; he won silver in Sochi. He is also the reigning X Games champion in the halfpipe  having won that title last month  in a competition that  White  skipped.
 White  led a group of four American snowboarders who qualified for the finals of the men's halfpipe at Phoenix Snow Park in Pyeongchang; joining  him  were Ben Ferguson  Chase Josey  and Jake Pates.
 Ferguson  cleaned up  his  second run after a fall in the first. And after a strong final run earned  him  a 90.75   he  finished 4th; Josey was 6th and Pates was 8th.
[TGT] Wins Gold In Halfpipe At The Winter Olympics
Updated at 10:15 p.m.  ET
[TGT]  pulled off a gold-medal comeback in the halfpipe  and Japan's Ayumu Hirano won silver on the strength of a phenomenal second run.
CORRECTION: An early version of this story reported that  White  had won silver — that was reported after the second run had completed. On his third run   White  won gold.
 White  missed out on a medal back in 2014  when  he  was hurt at the Sochi Games.  He 's now the only snowboarder ever to win three gold medals at the Olympics. And  he  did it by winning the 100th gold medal for the U.S. Winter Olympic team.
After the Japanese snowboarder's rousing run  the pressure shifted to James and  White . James seemed to take a very deep breath before he set off on his second run. The first section was great — but he couldn't get a clean landing on one of his final tricks.  White  came out with energy and speed — but  he  fell midway through  and mustered only 55 points.
The situation reversed in the third and final run  when  White  earned a 97.75 and both of  his  top rivals fell during  their  attempts.
This is the second Olympic medal for Hirano; he won silver in Sochi. He is also the reigning X Games champion in the halfpipe  having won that title last month  in a competition that  White  skipped.
 White  led a group of four American snowboarders who qualified for the finals of the men's halfpipe at Phoenix Snow Park in Pyeongchang; joining  him  were Ben Ferguson  Chase Josey  and Jake Pates.
 Ferguson  cleaned up  his  second run after a fall in the first. And after a strong final run earned  him  a 90.75   he  finished 4th; Josey was 6th and Pates was 8th.