Snowboarder Scotty James has produced one of the best runs of his impressive halfpipe career, to claim the gold medal at the Laax Open in Switzerland, the tenth World Cup victory of his career and fourth win at the prestigious Swiss event.
In the best of two run night final, the two-time Olympic medallist opened with a score of 88.75 points, then stepped it up in the final run to put down a spectacular performance that included a massive switch frontside triple cork 1440 on his way to a huge score of 95.75.
Scotty took the win ahead of Japanese rider Ruka Hirano’s score of 93.75, while compatriot and reigning Olympic halfpipe champion Ayumu Hirano was third with a run one score of 87.00.
“I think it might be one of the best moments of my competitive career” said the 30-year-old from Warrandyte in Victoria.
“It’s always challenging to win, but this year I feel like I have been put on the ropes quite a bit from the other competitors, especially the Japanese, they are riding incredible.
“Not for a second did I think it was a done deal until the last rider went because any rider could have won.
“It’s always been a super important detail for me to spin in every direction, and try and keep a bit of soul in there with the switch McTwist at the start before it gets into a lot of spinning, really happy to get the triple in there this year as well which was a big goal of mine.
“It’s one of the best pipes in the world, there are no excuses but to go 110% on this thing, so you’ve got to bring your best if you want to stand on top, or even on the podium for that matter.”
The victory puts Scotty into equal first place on the World Cup standings alongside Yuto Totsuka of Japan on 230 points.
Competing in the women’s event for Australia was two-time Olympian Emily Arthur, who finished in 24th place.
American riders took the top two places in the women’s final with two-time Olympic gold medallist Chloe Kim victorious ahead of Maddie Mastro in second and Gaon Choi of Korea in third.
Scotty will now head to Aspen, USA, to compete in the X-Games on January 23, where he will be aiming to win an incredible fourth straight and seventh career X-Games gold medal.
Check out the Men's and Women's Snowboard Halfpipe results.
Other Aussies in action
Danielle Scott has made a great start to the FIS Aerial Skiing World Cup season with a silver medal performance at the first event of the year in Lake Placid, USA, claiming the 22nd World Cup medal of her career.
The back-to-back defending World Cup Champion performed well in all three stages of the competition, placing second in the opening qualifications, and then secured her spot in the medal round by leading the first round of finals with an impressive full-full double twisting double back somersault that scored 92.29 points.
Check out the Men's and Women's Aerial Skiing results.
Chris Hocking | Olympic Winter Institute of Australia
