Shaun White's highly anticipated attempt at a third consecutive gold in the halfpipe event was thwarted Tuesday in one of the 2014 Winter Olympics most-watched moments.
Favored to win, White, 27, ran into problems during his first run of the finals when his board came down hard on the top of the halfpipe. His second run, though stronger, was not enough to overcome his friend and opponent Iouri Podladtchikov's score of 94.75.
White finished fourth, his chance of becoming the first U.S. male athlete to win three consecutive golds in one Winter Olympic sport gone.
So, will White be back?
"I think so," he told Today's Matt Lauer when asked if he's thinking of returning for 2018's games in South Korea.
Speaking to the feeling of defeat, he said: "I've dealt with this a lot when I was younger, just coming up in the ranks of the sport," he said. "It feels like old times I guess, but I've learned a lot from it."
Particularly frustrating for the athlete was the fact that, while he may not have placed the highest score in the finals, he was nevertheless the highest scorer of the night, racking up a 95.75 during the qualifying round.
"I thought about it plenty of times, just countless, running it through my head what I could have done," he said. "I'm happy, though. I move on from here. I don't think it makes or breaks my career this one night, but definitely a disappointment."
Podladtchikov, 25, was born in Russia, though he represented Switzerland at this year's Olympics. Japan's Ayumu Hirano and Taku Hiraoka took silver and bronze with scores of 93.50 and 92.25, respectively.
