Photo/Illutration Ayumu Hirano on his third run in the men's snowboard halfpipe final on Feb. 11 (Nobuhiro Shirai)

BEIJING--Ayumu Hirano, reflecting on what drove him to capture a gold medal in the men’s snowboard halfpipe event at the Winter Olympics here, said anger at an earlier low score pushed him close to breaking point.

Hirano, 23, speaking a day after his Feb. 11 victory, explained that he was the only competitor in a field of 12 on his second run to pull off a triple cork 1440 jump, yet he was awarded only 91.75 points for the performance, which put him in second place.

He felt shortchanged by the judges. Hirano said his anger helped to motivate him on his third run.

“Although I was angry, I was able to concentrate,” Hirano said. “I strongly felt I had performed in a way that was different from normal.”

At a Feb. 12 news conference, Hirano said he wanted the judges to explain what they were looking at in awarding him a low score the day before.

“We athletes are risking our lives to perform these jumps, so it would also help us if an explanation was given,” Hirano said.

He also explained that he felt he had not been able to train sufficiently for the halfpipe event as he also took part in the Tokyo Summer Olympics last July when he competed in the skateboarding event.

Describing his latest experience as the most difficult period of his life to date, Hirano said: “I had to always think about the various limits that I kept running into. But I was able to improve my skills in various areas by overcoming those difficulties on a daily basis.”

He said the score he got on his second run left him undecided on how to approach his third run. He even considered trying a new jump never attempted before, but decided the risk was too high.

“I was confident I could overtake (the top spot) by raising the level of completeness up a notch that I achieved on the second run,” Hirano said.

The outcome came as a sharp reversal of the position he found himself in at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea four years ago. After the second run in 2018, Hirano was in first place, but he was overtaken on the third and final run and ended up with his second straight silver medal.

But in his third Winter Olympics, it was Hirano who overtook the first-place athlete on the final run to win the gold medal.

“I was able to fulfill one dream I held since I was a child,” Hirano said.

When asked about his future, he said he wanted to take time to reflect on what he wanted to do with his athletic career.

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