Aussie snowboarder, Scotty James, has made history in the X-Games Superpipe, setting the Australian great up for his best chance of gold at next month’s Olympics in Italy.
Taking the mantle from all-time great Shaun White for the most X-Games medals, Scotty won gold, taking the lead after his first of three runs and holding it throughout then upping the ante with a 95.00 score in his third run.
The 31-year-old included a switch backside 1440 in his first run – the first time the trick had ever been executed in the X Games competition’s 25-year history – to earn a score of 92.33.
But then the veteran went even larger in the third and final run, following up his switch backside 1440 with another backside 1440 – again the first time the tricks had been linked in any competition.
James touched down with his hands on his final landing of the backwards-spinning move but the degree of technical difficulty couldn’t be ignored with judges awarding a score of 95.00.
The victory was the Victorian’s fifth successive X-Games gold medal and eighth in total in the halfpipe, matching retired great White’s title mark.
But it was James’s 11th medal in the event, eclipsing the American’s overall medal haul of 10.
Haku Shimisaki, aged just 16, won silver with a score of 89.66 while fellow Japanese rider Shuichiro Shigeno was third with 85.00.
“I never take anyone for granted, all my competitors that I ride against, every year they get better,” James said.
“And tonight I knew I had to do something to put my best foot forward and try and win.
“They inspire me as, I think maybe I’ve got a chip on my shoulder every year thinking maybe I wouldn’t be expected to show up and try again and win again and I managed to do that today.”
James said he was inspired to complete the revolutionary final run by some of the halfpipe greats, including White, who had come before him.
“I wanted to do something for myself and for the halfpipe and push backside riding as much as I can and I think that was the plan – I wanted to come out and do the first ever back-to-back backside 14s ever so I’m pumped.”
James’s result followed an impressive showing by teenage freeskier Indra Brown in her X-Games debut.
The 15-year-old continued to put herself in the Olympic medal mix with the young gun storming to silver in the superpipe on Saturday.
Following her stunning results in her maiden World Cup season, bagging three medals, including gold, from three starts, Brown won silver behind Britain’s reigning world champion Zoe Atkin.
Showing no fear, she pushed for more amplitude and improved with a score of 90.00 in the final round.
Atkin, one of the favourites for Olympic gold in Livigno, was a cut above with a top score of 94.66.
Canadian Cassie Sharpe, who won silver at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, was third with a score of 87.00.
Fellow Australian Tess Coady was unlucky to miss the podium in the women’s snowboard slopestyle event.
Coady, who won bronze in the event in Beijing and will line up again in Italy, scored 86.00 for her final run but was unable to catch Japan’s Kokomo Murase’s best mark of 89.66.
Britain’s Mia Brookes claimed gold with a 96.33 on her second run, with New Zealand’s Olympic champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott taking silver after a 93.00 with her third and final run.
