BONGPYEONG, South Korea — The durability of snowboarding, both as an Olympic event and a sport capable of lingering on the edge of the mainstream, can now be validated by its capacity for reinvention. It has been around long enough, and has grown embedded enough in cultural consciousness, to facilitate second acts.

Shaun White was 19 and raggedy when he won his first gold medal, 23 and exultant when he won his second, 27 and corporate when he suffered letdown and arrived at a professional fork. Wednesday on Pyeongchang Halfpipe, White completed his competitive revival at 31 with a reinforcement and a declaration.

White won the third Olympic gold medal of his career, clinching his most rewarding prize with a final run of extreme daring, towering athleticism and supreme clutch. He placed himself among America’s greatest winter Olympians and defeated a loaded field by making the final run of the contest the best run, not only of the contest, but perhaps in the history of the sport.

“I knew I did it,” White said. “I knew I put it down.”

In his earlier Olympic triumphs, White could be assured that none of his competitors had the ability to approach his best runs. That was not the case Wednesday, not against 19-year-old Japanese sensation Ayumu Hirano, Australian Scotty James and even countryman Ben Ferguson, a first-time Olympian from Bend.

He adjusted his goggles and dropped in. He hit consecutive 1440s and back-to-back 1260s, one of those with a flair called the Tomahawk. When he crossed the line, White raised both arms in the air.

Pairs Skating

Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China had the best score in the short program of the pairs event. They were followed by Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of Russia and Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada.

The lone American pair, Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim, placed 14th, good enough to make the final on Thursday.

Slalom Delayed

Mikaela Shiffrin will have to wait to start going for gold as the women’s slalom was delayed until Friday because of high winds. The giant slalom, already delayed once, is scheduled for Thursday.