Silver for Scotty in epic halfpipe final
Published Fri 11 Feb 2022
SNOWBOARD: The wizard from Warrandyte Scotty James has won a well-deserved silver medal at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, alongside Olympic debutant Valentino Guseli finishing 6th.
In arguably the most anticipated event of the Games, Australia's dominance in the halfpipe was on display with the best snowboard talent from around the globe, including from five-time Olympian Shaun White from the USA.
A special anticipation and excitement was in the air early at the Genting Snow Park halfpipe, in the athlete Villages and all the way back in Australia – particularly in Scotty's hometown of Warrandyte and Valentino's home Dalmeny, or ‘Valmeny'.
Clear blue skies, no wind and a brisk –12C made for perfect competition conditions and a picturesque setting for what would be one of the biggest and most exciting halfpipe finals in Olympic history.
Scotty was thrilled to win a silver medal for Australia with a score of 92.50, with Japan's Ayumu Hirano only better with a 96.00 to take the gold.
"I feel amazing. If you had of said to me a long time ago that I would be a two-time Olympic medallist I would have said that you were dreaming." Scotty said.
"I'm honestly just really proud. It's a proud moment and obviously so much work goes into this. Ayumu (Hirano) is an amazing competitor to me and we have some really good rivals, I knew I had to deliver my best and I gave it my best shot in the end there and unfortunately came unstuck.
"I was really happy and proud with my second run. It's the most technical run I've ever done in my life and that was my vision today. I was super happy that it put me on the podium."