Scotty James has once again demonstrated why he is perhaps the greatest of Australian winter sports athletes, since he got his title in half Snowboard World pipeline with another brilliant reckless exhibition in the middle of a snowfall in St Moritz.
Melburnian, 30, confirmed his position as the world’s most successful snowsport champion in his country, while grabbed the long -awaited Australian gold from the snowboarding, Freestyle and Freeski table on the penultimate day on Saturday.
His magnificent victory occurred shortly after the duo of Cam Bolton and Mia Clift took an unexpected money in the final of the mixed team of Snowboard Cross, which increased Australia’s account to three medals after the bronze won in the double magnates of Matt Graham in the first week.
“Aussie, Australian, Australian!” James exclaimed happily later.
“Halfipipe is a terrifying sport and becomes even more scary when the conditions are difficult. I am really excited and I felt that I had to be resistant today, so I am excited. To have won four world titles, I’m pinching.”
The snow fell strongly in the Swiss complex when James, who in January had matched the legendary American pilot Shaun White with a fourth in consecutive game Halfipe X, stood out in his last historical search, seeking to add to his three successive world titles in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
In both races, he opened the way, first of all with a routine of 89.50 points before a supreme final race that earned him 95.00.
Its complex but executed winning departure began with a Switch McTwist Japan and ended with a change from Diebe of Cork 1260 Weddle, before the Australian tradition of a “Shoey” festivation of a “Shoey” bottle of a death of an even more disgusting snow loot.
He saw the challenge of the former Japan World Champion Totsuka Yuto, who had established the rhythm in the qualification with a fantastic 97.00 routine but had to settle for the money with a 92.50 points race, while the Hirano compatriot Ruka de Yuto grabbed the bronze (92.00).
“Getting out this week was a challenge. I was definitely sitting there feeling well when Ruka and Yuto were coming. They have been riding incredibly well all season and I had great battles with them,” James said.
His fifth world championship medal was equivalent to the Australian record of the Graham free skier, his 30 -year -old partner, but none of the gongs of the magnates exponent had been of the golden variety.
The victory only prepares James for the award that really needs to be confirmed as the Australian winter sports goat, the Olympic gold in Italy next year to go with its bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018 and Silver in Beijing in 2022.
The silver for the Victorian pairing of Bolton, 34 and Clift, 20, was a welcome advantage for the team after another, more Australian Australian of Adam Lambert and Josie Baff failed to make the “grand finale” of four roars ended in the sixth place in general.
In the inaugural final of the mixed team, only the French loan duo Bozzolo and Julia Pereira de Sousa could defeat the Australian couple, with Clift producing a bright leg to obtain second place ahead of Valerio Jud and Siegenthaler of Switzerland.
