Scotty James wins Laax Open halfpipe World Cup

Laax (SUI) - Competition at the 2019 Laax Open finished on Saturday evening in celebratory fashion, as the best halfpipe riders in the world gathered at what is perhaps the best halfpipe in the world for a nighttime showdown that saw PyeongChang bronze medalist Scotty James (AUS) reign supreme, but not before pushing themselves to a new standard once again.

The men’s competition was a truly astonishing display of halfpipe riding, with all 11 men in the finals (12th finalist Taylor Gold of the USA was a DNS) having at least one jaw-dropping moment on the evening, and with some putting down astounding runs from front to back.

Of course, nobody’s run on Saturday was more astounding than Scotty James’, as the 24-year-old put down what must be the run of the year up to this point in his first turn in the final. Kicking things off with an insanely difficult switch backside 1080 indy, he proceeded to launch a backside 1080 mute, frontside 1080 tailgrab, cab double 1080 mute, and a frontside double 1260 stalefish, with all five hits consistently at five metres out of the pipe, or higher.

The run would earn James a score of 95.75, his first victory at Laax, and his second World Cup win of the season.

“The Laax Open was an event I’ve wanted to win for a while, and to do it under the lights in front of all these fans makes it extra special,” James said, “I’ve been working on that run for a while and it’s nice to put it all together. The switch backside riding, I really enjoy it and it’s a big element of my run. I’m trying to keep it technical but also keep the amplitude up and hopefully look like I’m enjoying myself while I’m at it.”

James’ incredibly high winning score should not suggest he wasn’t pushed on the evening, however, as the riders in second and third both had runs that could have won almost any other competition for them.

Tops amongst those was Yuto Totsuka (JPN), who went higher than almost anyone from top to bottom while starting and finishing his run with frontside double corks, earning himself a score of 92.00 for second place on the evening and his sixth World Cup podium in seven career World Cup starts.

And then there was third place Jake Pates (USA), who may have emerged from Saturday’s competition as the people’s champ after launching four double corked rotations out of five total hits in his run, ending up with a score of 85.50 and his first career World Cup podium.

James’ win moved him into top spot on the 2018/19 halfpipe World Cup leaderboard with 2000 points, while Totsuka jumped into second overall with 1760 points, moving Jan Scharrer (SUI), World Cup leader before competition began in Laax, down into third place with 1560 points.