James’ dream season is one Halfpipe win away

The 2017 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships is all that stands between Scotty James and a dream season.   

James is one of five Aussie halfpipe athletes in the Spanish ski resort town of Sierra Nevada for the ultimate event of the year.

The 22-year old has already secured the 2016/2017 World Cup Crown and X Games gold medal and will be aiming to
add a second consecutive World Championship title to his burgeoning trophy chest this weekend.  

James is fresh from a podium finish at the US Open Halfpipe Final where he finished second to one of his main rivals, the Olympic champion Shaun White.

It's a result James will be aiming to reverse when competition begins with qualification on Friday.

“I don’t emphasise too much on who’s going to be there. I worry about myself and how I’m going to best perform and take that approach,” James said. 

“Everyone knows what everyone can do in terms of tricks but everyone I’m competing against this week I’ve competed against all year,” he said.

The reigning world champion would like nothing better than to end his season on a high.

“I didn’t go into the season with any expectations. I knew I had worked really hard and put a lot of effort into it, more than I ever have in my whole career, so having that kind of confidence on my side played a big part in my success,” James said. 

“I’m feeling really good - as good as I have all season coming into this one. Because it’s the last one of the year I want to give it a good nudge and hopefully come out with the result that I want.”

The two-time Olympian won’t be changing tactics for the World Championships. 

“The run I’ve been doing now has been going pretty well for me - so that will be the plan for this week,” he said.

“I’ll take it day by day depending on the conditions and how the pipe is and hopefully it pans out the way it has been for the past season,” he said.  

Nathan Johnstone and Kent Callister will join James in the men’s event. The pair were most recently in action in the US Open where they finished 20th and 24th respectively.

In the women’s event Australia will be represented by former world champion and three-time Olympian Holly Crawford and Youth Olympic Games representative Emily Arthur, who both also competed in US Open where they finished 10th and 16th respectively.

The men’s and women’s Halfpipe World Championships will be decided at 6am Sunday morning (AEDT) and will be live streamed above or here