Kent's Story
Kent Callister was the surprise packet of the men’s Snowboard Halfpipe at Sochi, where he made his Olympic debut. The 18-year-old came ninth in a star-studded field that included defending Olympic Champion Shaun White. After progressing through the heats and semi-finals, Callister’s first run in the final didn’t quite go to plan. He fell on the landing of his fourth trick, scoring a lowly 40.00 points. Sitting in 10th, he had to pull out all stops on his second run if he was going be in with a chance at the podium. His 68.50 points weren’t quite enough, but it did cement him as an ‘athlete to watch’.
Four years later at the age of 22, Callister returned to the Olympic pipe at PyeongChang 2018 where he again advanced to the final alongside his Aussie teammate and eventual bronze medallist Scotty James. Callister put down a best score of 62.00 in the final to finish 10th overall.
Callister, who is a relative of the man who invented Vegemite, got into snowboarding in 2005 when he and his family moved from the Gold Coast to Oregon in the USA. He started competing in FIS races in both Snowboard Halfpipe and Slopestyle in 2010 and had his first podium finishes with back-to-back gold medals in both disciplines at the Rev Tour in at the start of 2012. The same year he made his World Cup debut in Cardrona, New Zealand, placing 13th in the Halfpipe.
