Snowboarder Scotty James parlayed a never-before-landed trick combination into his fifth straight X Games title on the halfpipe Saturday and tied Shaun White with eight overall gold medals at the biggest event this side of the Olympics.
In the final major contest before next month's Milan Cortina Games, the 31-year-old Aussie capped off his winning run with two straight backside 1440-degree jumps. That's two tricks spinning with his back facing down the hill to start, one while riding forward, the other riding backward — or ''switch.'' They are among the toughest on the halfpipe.
James briefly put his hand onto the snow to stay upright after the second jump, but the judges rewarded him anyway. His score of 95 easily beat second-place finisher Haku Shimasaki of Japan.
''I felt I wanted to do something for myself and for halfpipe and to push backside riding as much as I can,'' said Scott, who wore his trademark red boxing gloves and celebrated by crowd surfing into the hundreds of fans who watched the action in Aspen, Colorado. ''Tonight, I think it always was the plan. I wanted to come out and do the first back-to-back backside 14s, and I'm pumped.''
James is looking like the favorite heading into the Milan Cortina Olympics. Last week, he won the Laax Open in Switzerland — a contest in which defending Olympic champion Ayumu Hirano suffered a nasty fall and broke bones in his face, throwing his status for next month's Olympic halfpipe contest into limbo.
James has Olympic silver and bronze medals. In a documentary on his life that dropped earlier this Winter, he made no secret that he needs the Olympic gold to round out an otherwise impeccable career.
James has also shown a triple cork — three head-over-heels flips — as part of his repertoire this season, though the back-to-back 1440s was something nobody had seen.
He said he has always admired groundbreakers, such as slopestyler Mark McMorris, 2014 Olympic halfpipe champion Iouri Podladtchikov (the iPod) and White, and wanted to use this latest X Games performance to add something new.
