A day after claiming his second straight Winter Olympic halfpipe silver medal, teenage snowboarder Ayumu Hirano said Thursday he is considering a bid to compete in skateboarding at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Speaking at a press conference at the Japanese team base in South Korea, Hirano said he hoped to line up on home soil in two years' time when skateboarding makes its Olympic debut.
"If I'm going to start aiming for (Tokyo 2020), I don't have much time. I'll need to train hard," the 19-year-old said. "I need to organize my thoughts. It's just a possibility at this point."
Should Hirano go through with the bid, it could set up another showdown with Shaun White, this time in summer, after the American revealed his own plan to qualify for skateboarding in Tokyo following his halfpipe victory over his Japanese rival Wednesday.
In the thrilling halfpipe final, White, also a multiple X Games skateboarding gold medalist, produced one of the rides of his life at Phoenix Snow Park to prize the gold medal away from Hirano and become the first three-time snowboarding champion in Olympic history.
Hirano, silver medalist at the 2014 Sochi Games, had been sitting in first place on 95.25 before White scored 97.75 for his blistering final run.
Despite a stellar performance, Hirano lamented having emerged second-best from the battle with one of the sport's all-time greats and said he would be aiming to win gold in halfpipe at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
"Part of me can frankly accept the result, but another part is filled with regret. I want to win four years from now," he said.
Another athlete feeling regret was Nordic combined skier Akito Watabe, who likewise claimed a second silver medal in as many games the previous day.
Watabe entered the cross country section of the normal hill 10-kilomoter event in a strong position after posting the third-best jump, but Germany's Eric Frenzel, starting the race from fourth position, reeled in the frontrunners to win by 4.8 seconds and successfully defend his title.
While disappointed, Watabe said he also felt a sense of relief following the race.
"After I went back to my room, I had some time to think. I thought about how things could've been different. I have a lot of thoughts welling up right now," the 29-year-old said in a press conference also held at Tokyo 2020 Japan House.
Watabe, who will also compete in the individual large hill event next Tuesday, said he will make minor adjustments over the next five days in order to put on a better performance next time round.
"I'm going to take another shot at gold, the gold I wasn't able to win yesterday. I'll do my best," he said.