Who is Olympic snowboarder Ayumu Hirano dating? He’s keeping his private life private

Japanese snowboarder Ayumu Hirano probably slid across your TV screen this week when he faced off against two of the world’s biggest snowboarders in PyeongChang: USA’s Shaun White and up-and-coming Australian superstar Scotty James.

Even though Ayumu Hirano’s fancy footwork landed him a silver medal in the men’s halfpipe — sandwiched between gold medalist White and bronze medalist James — unless you’re an X Games junkie, you probably aren’t nearly as familiar with the 19-year-old Japanese athlete as you should be. Seriously, this kid is already huge in winter sports circles, and we’re sure it’s only a matter of time before he becomes a household name.

So, important questions first: Who exactly is Ayumu Hirano and, also, is he single?

To answer the former, let’s take a look at Hirano’s impressive snowboarding history. Long before he was sharing an Olympic podium with White and James, Hirano was sharing the halfpipe with his older brother, Eijyu. The two started off skateboarding together but hit the snow soon after. Hirano’s been snowboarding since about age four or five. Hirano started competing and gained some buzz when he placed 13th at the 2011 Burton U.S. Open at only age 12. At 14, he nabbed a silver medal at the X Games. He went on to be the first rider to complete a back-to-back double cork 1440s at the X Games, winning gold.

Obviously, the dude’s got a promising pro boarding future ahead of him.

As far as Question No. 2 goes…we’re not really sure on the answer.

Unlike his 2018 Winter Games competitor James, who is all about the social media love with his American GF Ivy Miller, Ayumu hasn’t offered up any clues about his relationship status, as far as we can tell. Honestly, the guy’s got enough going on to add romance into the mix at this point so we get it. And even if he is dating someone, with all the attention being thrown Hirano’s way in the past few years, we’d probably keep our private lives private if we were him, too.

What we do know about Hirano’s life off the board is that he says he’s lazy (we’re guessing that’s a relative term) and likes spending time with his brother and his friends. Fun fact: he also apparently hates bugs.

The Winter Games may be winding down next week, but we have a feeling this won’t be the last we’ll be hearing about Ayumu Hirano.