White soars to 3rd Olympic halfpipe title; Hirano gets silver

wow! what an exciting end to the half-pipe. man it just goesn't get any better than this. congrat to both white and hirano. it seems like they are pushing each other to higher boundaries. hope to see more of hirano in the future.

White soars on to the Wheaties ads, plus millions, too toothpaste commercials, and milions, car food ads, etc...Sorry H, you did your best but you have the next O's to get those lucrative contracts and talk shows...

Go JAPAN vs KOREA....

congrat to both white and hirano.

Congrats to all three, a bronze is nothing to sneeze at.

That was a really epic halfpipe finals, incredible runs by especially the top 3. Hopefully Totsuka is alright and is recovering from his horrific fall..

It was exciting but also there sure were a lot of accidents...especially last night during the women's competition, extremely windy conditions. But next exciting is upcoming hockey: Japan vs Korea or to put it: Abe/Trump vs Moon/Un....Go Japan.

As much as I’d have loved Scotty James to win, Shaun White really is something special, and you just knew he would go big on that last run. Congrats to Scotty on an awesome Games, and little Hirano on his silver - the kid could be dominant when White finally hangs up his board.

I saw some of the videos of Hirano and White and you can see a distinct difference between their runs. I felt White was going much faster, jump much higher and took more risks. So deserved win imo. But Hirano is only 19 so he still has many chances in the future.

Yep - that was a great final - maybe even yesterdays heat equalled it. Definitely the top 3 prevailed.

Been interesting if Yuki Kadono had been in it.

Anyone know exactly what misdemeanour he did, to not having been picked?

Congratulations to ALL of these guys for winning a medal. Has the UK one any medals yet? Even Kazakstan has won a Bronze medal!

Performing under pressure ... That was beautiful to watch !!! GO USA!!

31 vs. children who can fly. That was insane. Got to appreciate this accomplishment.

The top contenders were all awesome; they scare me to death with their tricks!

they scare me to death with their tricks

Right. I'm not sure whether they should get medals or be locked up in an asylum.

Has the UK one any medals yet?

They're saving it up for the curling. If you thought the halfpipe was exciting, you ain't seen nothing yet. :-)

"People ask me when I got over Sochi, I'm like, 'F--king got over Sochi?' I never got over Sochi. I'll never get over Sochi. It's part of me now"

The King was supremely motivated to take back his crown. Needed something legendary to beat him today. No shame in coming second the Greatest of All Time when he's in such form.

Great contest. Hope the young fella who stacked it hard is OK, he was complaining of hip pain, would not be surprised if he has fractured his pelvis, the lip is essentially solid ice and he wiped out hard.

As much as I enjoyed the comp, I felt that other snowboarders were just here to make up the numbers and weren't given a fair go. Was always going to be the white/hirano/james show (same in all sports where judges determine the winner, you get an extra point or 2 on reputation/name alone).

If I hadn't known who was who, I think I would have still given GOLD to White but then 2 to 5-6 were pretty much interchangeable (thought the other J guy in particular was harshly done by).

USA!

a bronze is nothing to sneeze at.

but gold is shinier

US got all the snowboard golds so far

Snowboard got popularized in the US, after all

 I felt that other snowboarders were just here to make up the numbers and weren't given a fair go. 

Valid points, at the end of the day in the current climate you need to lay down 1440s and back to back 1440 to seal the deal. Even is you are smooth and flawless with your 1260s you need that extra 180 degrees.(unless the 1440 dudes crash )

Its like mens ice skating and the quad jump. It was thought that it as impossible to win gold without a quad

 "no Olympic gold medal will ever again be won by a man who doesn't try a four-revolution jump."  (some expert said)

until 2010 and the new judging sysytem and the American Lysacek won without a quad and the "quad controversy" was born.

Perhaps the "1440 controversy" will soon be a thing if the snowboard judging ever gets tweaked.