BEIJING (AP) — Shaun White’s Olympic snowboarding has ended without a medal in his final event.
The three-time Olympic halfpipe champion had to settle for a fourth-place finish at Beijing, falling on his final attempt. He got a rousing round of applause from fellow competitors and the sparse crowd at the end of his third and final run.
Ayumu Hirano put together sensational performances on his final two runs to capture gold.
Scotty James of Australia won silver and Jan Scherrer of Switzerland won bronze.
Also at Beijing:
— The U.S. women’s hockey team avoided an upset when it rallied to beat the Czech Republic 4-1 in the quarterfinals. Lee Stecklein scored the go-ahead goal on a shot from the right point 6:49 into the third period for the defending Olympic champions.
— Lee Stecklein scored from the right point 6:49 into the third period to give the U.S. women’s hockey team a 4-1 win over the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals. Hilary Knight had a goal and assist for the Americans, who put 59 shots on goal yet trailed five minutes into the second period.
— Lara Gut-Behrami finally has her Olympic gold medal after taking the women’s super-G. Two-time Olympic Alpine gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin’s misery in Beijing continued as she finished a distant ninth, 0.79 seconds behind Gut-Behrami. At least the American finished this time, after skiing out in both her previous races in Beijing.
— Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva will get an urgent hearing to decide whether she can compete. Valieva was able to lead the Russian Olympic Committee to gold in the team competition despite testing positive for a banned medication before arriving at Beijing.
