Winter Olympic medalist Ayumu Hirano challenges himself to compete in skateboarding in Tokyo

TOKYO — With the Olympics coming to his home country, Ayumu Hirano the two-time silver medalist sought the challenge of competing in the Tokyo Games.

That he’d have to do it on a skateboarding park course rather than a snowboarding halfpipe forced him to push himself in new ways.

Hirano, 22, went from snowboarding prodigy who won an X Games medal at 14 to a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the halfpipe. He was just 15 when he won his first Olympic medal in Sochi.

But he has long been a skateboarder and spent the past three years dedicating himself to that sport to be part of these Games.

“That was also a time period where I was no longer doing what I was best at,” he said. “While practicing, I realized the difficulty of what everyone else can do, the higher level. It was a reminder of the difficulty of being able to do what others couldn’t do.

“Those were some tough times. Since I chose this path, I am thankful I was able to come to this stage. This venue of skateboarding has definitely made me stronger, so in that regard I was able to finish today with no regrets.”

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Hirano finished 14th in the preliminary heats of the men’s park competition, failing to advance to the final. He got big air on his tricks out of the bowl, but that’s about the only thing that translates from snowboarding. Hirano fell on two of his runs, and he said he wasn’t able to do all of the tricks that he has learned in the previous years focusing on the sport.

“Since starting skateboarding, it wasn’t just about enjoying myself. Not everything always went right,” he said. “It was a constant battle against myself. It was something you can’t really experience just through doing snowboarding.”

With his first Summer Olympics in the books, Hirano turns his focus back to the snow. He’s planning on competing in Beijing, which, thanks to the pandemic-related delay, happen in just six months.

“For a while, I have been away from snowboarding,” he said. “Everyone is on their highest level, and how am I going to recover is a challenge. So even though it’s over, it doesn’t feel like it’s over.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ayumu Hirano, Winter Olympic medalist, embraces skateboarding challenge