Scotty James wins Olympic silver in the men’s halfpipe

Scotty James (Twitter)

Scotty James of East Melbourne has won Australia’s third medal at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. On Friday, James placed second in the men’s halfpipe snowboarding competition.

James posted a score of 92.5 points. Ayumu Hirano of Japan won the gold medal with 96 points. Jan Scherrer of Switzerland won the bronze medal with 87.25 points. James reached the podium by 7.25 points over three-time Olympic men’s halfpipe snowboarding champion Shaun White of the United States. Known as the ‘Flying Tomato’ and the greatest halfpipe snowboarder ever, White had a score of 85 points in his final international halfpipe competition.

The men’s halfpipe final did not come without controversy. Many were stunned that James was in first place after the second run out of three. James’s best performance out of  the three came in his second run where he posted a score of 92.5. Hirano’s second run only registered a score of 91,75, which meant he could not have a victory lap with his final run.

The fact that James reached the podium was expected. Four years ago at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, James won the bronze medal. Over the last Olympic cycle, he has won three Winter X Games gold medals in the men’s superpipe, won the gold medal at the prestigious Laax Open in Switzerland in 2019 and 2020, won the gold medal at the 2019 World Snowboarding and Freestyle Skiing Championships in Deer Valley, Utah, and was the 2019-20 World Cup men’s halfpipe skiing champion.

Australia’s first medal of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games was a bronze medal from Tess Coady in women’s slopestyle snowboarding. Their second medal was a gold medal in women’s moguls from Jakara Anthony.