Scotty James overcomes broken board to win third straight X Games Aspen gold in halfpipe
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
When Scotty James won his first gold medal at X Games Aspen in 2017, he was hardly a household name in snowboarding. Overshadowed in the media by the stars of the day like Shaun White, Danny Davis, and Iouri Podladtchikov, James bested them all that night, and his star has yet to stop rising.
In fact, it’s burning so bright there seems to be no one who can stop him anymore.
“It’s probably been something I’ve been able to do well is put expectation into perspective,” he said Friday night after his latest triumph at X Games Aspen. “I’ve been able to really stay in touch with why I do this. I love it, and I really enjoy the competition. So being able to keep that the priority has always really made all the outside noise become pretty small. The target definitely drives me, I would say, more than scares me away. I enjoy it.”
In an eight-year span, dating to his win in 2017, the mighty Australian has now won six X Games gold medals in men’s halfpipe snowboarding. His most recent came on Friday, when he took down a trio of Hiranos for his third straight win at Buttermilk Ski Area. The only two losses for James in Aspen during that span were both runner-up finishes – once in 2018 to Ayumu Hirano and again in 2021 to Japan’s Yuto Totsuka.
Friday’s win was the first three-peat for James, a feat matched in the halfpipe by only White, who won six straight times from 2008-2013.
“This one is really special. I didn’t know, but I heard I’m in good company with Shaun on the three-peat, so that’s pretty cool,” James said. “I always admired his riding. Every year, I always come back and find different ways to test myself, push myself, stay motivated, find new things that keep me excited on my board. This one is really special. They are not easy to come by – X Games medals in general – so to get a gold is special.”
Finishing second was Japan’s Ruka Hirano (87) and in third was Japan’s Kaishu Hirano (86.33). This was Hirano’s second X Games medal after he also won bronze in 2021. This was a second bronze for Hirano, his other coming in 2022.
While Ruka and Kaishu are not related, Kaishu is the younger brother of reigning Olympic champion Ayumu Hirano, who could not put down a complete run Friday and finished last with 25.66.
Japan’s Shuichiro Shigeno, an X Games rookie who recently made headlines for landing an 1800 outside of competition in the halfpipe, was fourth with 80.66. Rounding out the scoring were Switzerland’s Jan Scherrer (fifth, 72), Totsuka (sixth, 36.66), and Idaho’s Chase Josey (seventh, 34.33), the only American in the field.
James came out swinging on Friday, scoring 88 on his first run as the last to drop in. The hiccup came when he broke his snowboard after landing a 1440 and had to pivot his final trick from a 1260 down to a mere 1080. His equipment held up on his second run, with James finishing off his final 1260 to score 93, easily clearing the way for his third-straight gold medal.
He also broke a snowboard in 2019 en route to an Aspen win.
“I was really happy. The first run, I broke my board, and I felt it after the 14,” James said. “I felt my heel edge slipping out, so I had to try and finish the run with that. That’s why I came up on the last one and did a switch back 10 instead of a switch backside 12. So, it was nice to come back out in the second run and get a rebate and put down the run I wanted to.”
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