ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — The biggest life-changer for snowboard champion Ayumu Hirano since he won an Olympic gold medal: He became a father.
That, as much as triple corks or big airs, has been his focus over the last few months. It doesn't figure to change much, even as he ramps up his run for a repeat at the Olympics next year.
“My private life, outside of snowboarding, is to enjoy spending time with my child,” the Japanese rider told The Associated Press as he prepared for the debut of The Snow League, a new pro halfpipe circuit being fronted by Shaun White. “And practicing.”
Three years ago, Hirano redefined what's possible by landing a once-unthinkable triple cork — that's three head-over-heels flips — as part of a winning run at the Beijing Olympics.
On Saturday in Aspen, he was reminded that it will take more than just that triple cork to stay at the top of his sport. Hirano landed it during both his runs in his one-on-one semifinal showdown against Yuto Totsuka. But the judges deemed Totsuka, who filled his runs with technical tricks that featured fewer flips, the better rider.
Totsuka saved his own triple cork for the final round and led a Japanese sweep of the inaugural Snow League event. Ruka Hirano, who is not related to Ayumu, finished second and Ayumu finished third.
Even before the third-place finish, the 26-year-old Hirano said he's well aware he has to concentrate every bit as much on all the other jumps, grabs and transitions as the triple cork.
“If I focus on the overall performance, I think that I can minimize the risk that doing (big) tricks brings,” he said. “However, the overall composition has become very high level. How I can come up with a new trick within that composition is my challenge, and I am looking forward to it.”
Hirano stays very private outside the halfpipe
Hirano does not divulge much about anything outside the halfpipe. He wouldn't reveal his baby's name and even demurred when asked if his child was a boy or a girl. “Not yet,” he said when asked for the details.
Lingering beneath that privacy is the question of whether, as the defending Olympic champion, he has any desire to assume a spot that White has held for the last two decades: the face of professional snowboarding.
It's not easy, and those with short memories might forget that Hirano already has been out there for more than a dozen years.
His first big splash, in fact, came at the same mountain he competed on this week, where he won a silver medal at the Winter X Games at 14 to become the youngest athlete to reach the podium in one of his sport's marquee events.
That set him up to be labeled as the wunderkind who someday was going to be White at the Olympics. But that took time. He won silver medals in 2014 and 2018 — the second of those in a spirited battle with White, who snatched away the gold medal, his third, by landing every trick on a run he had never completed successfully before.
“I've seen his arc and his career, where he came out swinging and he had so much tension, so much pressure,” White said. "I think that kind of hurt his trajectory a little. But he came back and he's in the spot of heading into the Olympics being the top guy.
“The fact he landed that last run at the Olympics shows he's got some grit to him.”
The final run White speaks of came in 2022 when, after landing the triple cork on his second run, Hirano still found himself in second place behind Australian Scotty James.
Hirano came back, repeated the trick and, that time, got the score and the gold medal that came with it.
And that's how Japan ended up with a snowboard champion. Hirano's star, already a bright one back home, started radiating even further. White said it was hard to miss the life-size posters of the 5-foot-5 daredevil hawking athletic gear at a mall in Sydney earlier this month.
For Hirano the snowboarder, the fame isn't something he seeks — it simply goes with the territory.
For Hirano the dad, being really good at what he does has a new meaning now — he's not just doing it for himself.
“I feel like I have to do it right to leave my legacy for this child’s future,” he said. “I’m fortunate to continue doing things I love, and I feel that I can keep on competing, not just with my own will but with my family. The family has become the source of my energy.”
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics
Eddie Pells, The Associated Press
