LIVIGNO, Italy — Japanese snowboarder Yuto Totsuka won the Olympic gold medal in men’s halfpipe at the Milan Cortina Games on Friday and Scotty James of Australia repeated as the silver medalist.
Totsuka laid down a massive second run featuring back-to-back jumps with three head-over-heels flips each. That effort earned him 95 points.
James had the last run of the final after he topped qualifying on Wednesday. But he fell near the end, failing to improve on his second-run score of 93.50.
The 31-year-old Australian collected his third medal after winning silver at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and bronze four years earlier at the Pyeongchang Games.
Ryusei Yamada of Japan took the bronze.
The 24-year-old Totsuka, competing at the Olympics for the third time, is currently leading the World Cup halfpipe standings.
These were medals No. 5 and 6 for Japanese snowboarders at the Milan Cortina Games. Three of those have been gold.
Kira Kimura and Ryomo Kimata took gold and silver in men’s big air. Kokomo Murase won gold in women’s big air, while Mitsuki Ono took bronze in women’s halfpipe.
On Friday, Ruka Hirano finished fourth, while the defending halfpipe champion Ayumu Hirano finished seventh. The 2022 champion was competing while not fully recovered from a bad fall last month that injured his face and pelvis.
While Totsuka celebrated with Japanese fans in the Italian Alps, it was more frustration for his Australian rival.
James held his face in his gloves while sitting on the snow after his fall. He had come to the Olympics, his fifth, having said that not having won a gold was “the elephant in the room” of a career filled with multiple titles, including four world championships.
But Friday ended like four years ago in Beijing, when he came up short against Ayumu Hirano.
James, the oldest rider in Friday’s final, wiped his eyes as he approached the podium.
Totsuka also wiped his eyes as he shed some tears of joy when they placed the gold medal around his neck.
Winter Olympics: /hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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