American Shaun White Wins Olympic Gold in Men’s Snowboarding

American snowboarder Shaun White has won his third career Olympic gold medal Wednesday with a masterful run in the men’s halfpipe at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea.

The 31-year old White was trailing Japan’s Ayumu Hirano going into the final of three runs at the Phoenix Snow Park venue, but dazzled the crowd with a daring set that included back-to-back 1440-degree spins, known as the “1440 Triple Cork.” Hirano won the silver medal with a score of 95.25, while Australia’s Scotty James earned the bronze. 

Wednesday’s gold medal run for the red-headed daredevil dubbed “The Flying Tomato” redeems his failure to reach the medals podium four years ago in Sochi, after winning gold in 2006 in Turin and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics to become the sport’s biggest star. 

White’s gold medal also marks the 100th overall for the United States in the Winter Olympic Games.

Elsewhere in PyeongChang Wednesday, strong winds have forced officials to postpone the women’s slalom, the third event that has been scratched in the Alpine skiing program due to inclement weather. The women’s slalom has been moved to Friday, while the giant slalom, which was originally scheduled for Monday, has been moved to Thursday.

Norway leads the overall medal count with 11, with both Canada and the Netherlands tied for second place with 10, followed by Germany with nine and the United States with 7. In the gold medal count, Germany leads with five, the United States and the Netherlands tied with four each, and Norway and Canada tied with three.
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