Australia’s Scotty James has won silver at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
James was skating for gold, but fell on his fifth and final trick.
It’s a devastating end for to James’ 2026 Olympic campaign here in Livigno. Everyone wants to win an Olympic medal, but the one he needed was gold.
Japan’s Yuto Totsuka wins gold with a phenomenal 95, while Japan’s Ryusei Yamada takes home the bronze.
James becomes the first Australian to win three Winter Olympic medals, after already claiming a bronze at PyeongChang in 2018 and a silver in Beijing in 2022.
“I’m really proud, obviously. It’s hard to win medals at the game, and I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little bit disappointed,” James said on Nine after the medal ceremony.
“I have, obviously, big ambition, and I wanted to come away landing the run, regardless of the medal, and I wasn’t able to do that on the third run.
“It is what it is and the show goes on. The sun will rise tomorrow, my little boy will need me tomorrow, he won’t care what medal is around my neck, to be honest. Everyone back in Aus, love you, thank you.”
Australia’s Scotty James celebrates during the men’s snowboarding halfpipe finals following his second run.Credit: AP
Going into his third and final run, James was guaranteed at least a silver medal after Yamada failed to improve on his 92.
Having pulled-off the switch backside 1440 into a backside 1440 (a four rotation trick into another four rotation trick) it looked like James might be able to snatch the gold from Totsuka.
But he upped the ante on the final trick of the run, and attempted and attempted a backside double cork 1620 – a four-and-a-half rotation.
Scotty James falls in the final.Credit: Getty Images
Unfortunately for James, he couldn’t stick the landing.
“It was an amazing finals. I knew I had to go for something, I went for the back 16 [backwards entry with four and a half rotations] and then came unstuck,” James said.
“And it’s left me wondering, if I had of landed the first run, could that have done it? Maybe it was better execution than my second run.
“That will keep me up tonight, but we’re athletes. We’re resilient, we get on with it, and look, I’m happy to be out here representing the country most importantly.”
