Scotty James ties Shaun White’s X Games file, lands never-been-done trick mixture

Scotty James received his eighth X Games gold medal in males’s snowboard halfpipe Saturday night time, matching the longtime file held by Shaun White.

And the Aussie did so in emphatic fashion. With riders upping the ante all season lengthy forward of the Milan Cortina Olympics, James ended his ultimate run with a never-been-done trick mixture: a swap bottom 1440 right into a bottom 1440.

The 31-year-old star is broadly thought to be the world’s finest halfpipe rider in relation to swap bottom tips. He was the primary, and for years the one, rider to land a swap bottom 1260. At final week’s Laax Open, he landed a swap bottom 1440 in a contest run for the primary time in his profession — Ruka Hirano grew to become the primary rider to land that trick in a contest earlier this season — however X Games marked the primary time he, or anybody else, had linked it right into a bottom 1440.

The victory is James’ fifth straight at X Games, although this yr’s subject notably didn’t embrace Ayumu Hirano, who sustained facial accidents after a tough crash within the Laax Open ultimate. Yuto Totsuka and Ruka Hirano, two different high contenders from Japan, additionally skipped the occasion.

New Zealand’s Cam Melville Ives, who completed 2nd behind James on the Laax Open, was unable to land a full pull, falling on his triple cork try on all three runs.

Coming off the momentum of Laax Open and X Games victories, James’ subsequent contest would be the Winter Olympics in February.

History was additionally made in Aspen by Japan’s Kokomo Murase, who received ladies’s snowboard massive air gold after turning into the primary girl to land a triple cork 1620 in competitors.

In males’s snowboard massive air, Japan’s Hiroto Ogiwara repeated as champion by matching final yr’s historic feat with one more efficiently landed 2340.

Other winners by means of the primary two days of snowboarding occasions have been Japan’s Sara Shimizu (ladies’s halfpipe) and Great Britain’s Mia Brookes (ladies’s slopestyle).

On the freeskiing aspect, three members of the U.S. Olympic group have already captured X Games gold within the occasion’s first two days. Mac Forehand received his second massive air title after touchdown a swap triple cork 2160, and Alex Hall and Marin Hamill skied away with knuckle huck titles.

Other freeski contests have been received by Great Britain’s Zoe Atkin (ladies’s halfpipe) and New Zealand’s Luca Harrington (males’s slopestyle).

X Games concludes Sunday, with males’s snowboard slopestyle and males’s freeski halfpipe among the many marquee occasions on the schedule.