Snowboarder, Valentino Guseli, just lay down one of the best stories of the Winter Olympics in the first official event in the Livigno snowpark last night. And it’s not even finals yet.
We knew Guseli was the first alternate athlete for the Big Air and we all knew that traditionally means you get that spot at the cost of someone else’s Games dream.
Guseli knows himself the injury risks of his death defying Olympic disciplines of Big Air, Slopestyle and Halfpipe. He’d already secured himself a spot on the Halfpipe team, but both Slopestyle and Big Air eluded him after an ACL injury in December 2024. He has never been shy of talking up his dream of competing in all three disciplines at the Winter Olympics. But it wasn’t meant to be this time round, or was it?
The sound of helicopter blades filled the air on Wednesday night local time in Livigno. Choppers during the Games means only one thing. The head of the IOC is arriving, or an athlete is injured (even Snoop doesn’t get chopper privileges). The athlete wasn’t just any athlete either, it was snowboarder Mark McMorris, three-time Olympic slopestyle bronze medalist. He suffered a horror crash in Big Air training and was knocked unconscious.
Australian WhatsApp messaging went crazy on Thursday filled with empathy for McMorris and guilty hope for the Aussies. Guseli was the only snowboard halfpipe athlete with a top 30 Big Air World Cup finish and enough FIS points to gain a start in Big Air at the Olympics as the first reserve.
McMorris had until 3pm to pull out of the event so it was a late call up for Guseli who at 4pm got the nod. Bear in mind he had not set foot on the Big Air jump in Livigno, while fellow competitors had had multiple training sessions racking up 30+ runs but he had yet to take the elevator to the mammoth peak of the Big Air.
Guseli had two hours until the official pre-competition training and then the event scheduled for 7.30pm. He went into the event with a handful of runs (eight) on the Big Air under his belt and was up against a medal-heavy lineup.
Beijing gold medalist Su Yiming from China was (and is) considered the favourite, Japan’s Hiroto Ogiwara has won back-to-back X Games and can stomp a 2340 in competition and Italy’s Ian Matteoli was the first rider to land a 2160 in 24/25. Not to mention the Kiwi contingent fresh off X Games Aspen glory.
Guseli presents as the nicest guy in snowboarding, since a little tacker he’s always mixed a blend of cheeky grom with well-mannered child. As he’s grown he’s captured more and more hearts of snow sports lovers in Australia. We laugh that he was born media trained, he’s so easy to talk to.
Those who know of, or personally know, Guseli love him, especially the South Coast of New South Wales, not least thanks to the giant dry land jump his grandfather, Guido, built him in Dalmeny near Narooma.
His father, Rick, provides the high energy hype – if you watch X Games or FIS World Cup halfpipes you’ll see him at the starting line bigger than Ben Hur filled with pride for his son. But it’s Val that commands the crowd attention. Last night in the Livigno snow park was no different as he dug deep to lay it all on the line.
You can see the Big Air from every point in Livigno.
The snow park sits across the road from the pedestrian village, at night it lights up like a diamond radiating brilliance at every angle. When you ski during the day on uncrowded slopes you get a drone-like view of the Big Air that stands tall as the compass point by which those of us currently in Livigno navigate.
The hamlet valley town of Livigno before the Big Air qualification last night was eerily quiet. Most had migrated to the park, others were drinking Aperol outside Hotel Bivio (think of it as Perisher’s The Man where the world meets) and others still yet to arrive for the upcoming Games schedule.
When you’re the first alternate and last to the list, expectations from fellow athletes is understandably low. But Guseli isn’t a rookie, he holds the halfpipe amplitude record after all. He’s held the Overall Park and Pipe Crystal Globe high above his head before, in both the 22/23 and 23/24 seasons. Though he missed the 24/25 season due to injury and finished Big Air 25/26 scraping into the leaderboard at 29, despite being second on the current cup standings for overall Park and Pipe (Big Air, slopestyle and halfpipe).
Which is why Guseli’s feat is so remarkable. Lulling his competitors into a false sense of security with his first two runs that had him sitting well out of the top 12 needed for finals. He entered his third run sitting 19th and in need of a miracle.
What followed was truly history making.
Guseli is known to go hard when it counts and this one counted. Under lights, in front of a sell-out crowd, he took his moment, hit the Big Air jump and stomped a massive switch back 1980 trail grab (five and a half spins), his first in competition ever. It paid off with the second highest individual run score of the night, 91.50. A score that took his total combined of his best two runs to 163, sliding into 12th place, the last remaining for the finals this Saturday that will feature four Japan riders and three Kiwis in the mix.
For Australians in particular, it doesn’t get better than this. Our nation loves an underdog story that rises to triumph and Guseli gave us that and more. Feats like his give us all hope we can rise from life challenges, on a snowboard or not.
“No matter how hopeless your life can feel at a certain point, you might be right about to have the most amazing thing ever happen to you,” said Guseli in his post event interview.
“So keep going and you never know when the hard work is going to pay off.”
Valentino Guseli has already activated legend status in the snow sports world and now he’ll be a household name thanks to the mainstream stage that the Winter Olympics can provide.
Come Saturday night local time (Sunday morning in Australia), Aussies who’ve never even seen the snow will be shouting his name at the tv screen filled with Olympic Spirit.
All hail Val from Dal.
*Feature image AOC | Chris Hocking
