Japan's Ayumu Hirano soared to gold at the men's snowboard halfpipe final on Friday at the Beijing Games, while a tearful Shaun White said he was thankful for his final run despite just missing out on the podium in his fifth and last Olympics.

Hirano, who won silver at the Pyeongchang 2018 and Sochi Games 2014, went into his third and final run in second place, under pressure to top Australian Scotty James who threw down a double cork 1440 with a tail grab on his second run.

Seemingly not phased by the pressure, Hirano dropped into his final run, catching more than five metres of air to land a triple cork, an advanced trick the Japanese boarder introduced for the first time ever at competitions in December.

Hirano's third run earned him the top score of 96, forcing James to settle for silver with 92.50. Swiss Jan Scherrer, 27, won bronze with 87.25 followed by American White on 85.00.