The snowboarding star Valentino Guseli has fallen short in his unexpected bid to win Australia’s first medal of the Winter Olympics in Italy, stumbling on the landing twice in an all-or-nothing final.
Guseli was looking to continue his fairytale start to the Milano Cortina Games after he qualified for the big air final in “insane” fashion.
But the 20-year-old was was unable to stick the landing on two of his jumps in the final on Saturday night in Livigno and finished 10th.
Japan’s Kira Kimura won gold ahead of countryman Ryoma Kimata, with China’s defending Olympic champion Su Yiming third.
“I couldn’t have tried harder or wanted it more so yeah, no regrets,” Guseli said after the event.
“I was just stoked to be out there riding – first big air final in quite a long time, first big air final, first big air comp in the Olympics.
“I had a lot of fun riding and I left it all out there, for sure.”
Guseli only got a bib for the qualifying round when another competitor, Canadian great Mark McMorris, pulled out through injury.
With just a few hours notice and without a training run he clinched the last spot in the 12-man final with a spectacular, soaring final jump.
But he was unable to repeat his heroics in the high-pressure medal round in which a number of competitors suffered heavy falls.
Guseli fell in his first round jump to score 23.0 to sit second last but then nailed a switch backside 1980 tail grab – the same move that qualified him for the final – to score 86.75.
Back in the mix, with each competitor’s best two jumps counting, Guseli went for a backside 1980 on his third and final run but fell on the landing and slid on his back, giving him a score of 16.50.
“I had a lot of personal wins today. I did the trick that I ruptured my ACL on for the first time since I ruptured [it],” said Guseli, who suffered that knee injury in late 2024.
“It was the third time I landed the switchback 19 ever in my life,” he said.
“I think the level was so high that everyone just had to go all in and throw the biggest stuff they could and I know that I definitely threw the best stuff that I could.”
Kimura, 21, edged his countryman with the best score of the night with a 90.50 in his final run for a total of 179.50 points.
World champion Kimata touched down on his final run when he had a chance to snatch victory, with the 23-year-old tallying 171.50 points.
Guseli will contest qualifying in the men’s halfpipe on Thursday (AEDT) and is considered a strong medal chance alongside his teammate and title favourite Scotty James.
“It’s going to be great,” said Guseli, who hails from Dalmeny on the New South Wales far south coast.
“Hopefully we can we can both get up there and make Australia proud.”
Meanwhile, the Australian Olympic team says aerial star Laura Peel hasn’t given up on competing despite suffering a “significant knee injury”.
The two-time world champion crashed in training in Switzerland on 1 February but has travelled to Livigno and will try to pass a medical to line up in her fourth Olympics.
“Peel will be working with Australian Olympic Team medical staff on a staged progression of criteria based strength, stability and functional testing to pass medical clearance for jumping,” the team said in a statement.
In other events on Saturday, Alex Ferlazzo was 20th after the first round of the men’s luge and improved his position by one spot with two rounds to follow on Sunday.
Rosie Fordham was the best-performing Australian in the women’s skiathlon, placing 49th, with Ellen Soehel Lie, Phoebe Cridland and Maddie Hooker crossing the line in succession 57th to 59th.
With Australian Associated Press
