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Livigno: Valentino Guseli will turn his attention to a tantalising head-to-head battle with his mentor and friend, fellow Australian snowboarding star Scotty James, after falling short of the podium in Saturday’s big air final.
On a night dominated by Asian riders, Japan’s Kira Kimura took out the gold medal after a stunning third run, landing a difficult switch backside 1980 to register the top score and an overall return of 179.50 at the Livigno Sport Park.
His countryman, Ryoma Kimata, had a chance to overtake him with the last run but couldn’t stick the landing had to settle for silver, edging out China’s Yiming Su, the Beijing 2022 champion, in third.
Having messed up his first run, Guseli had himself right in the mix after pulling off another switch backside 1980 tailgrab with his second – the same trick that got him into the final in dramatic style. That left him requiring a score of at least 81.75 with his third and final effort – but he crashed on landing while attempting a backside 1980 indy for the first time ever, sliding him back into 10th place.
Considering he was a late replacement in the big air competition because of an injury to Canadian rival Mark McMorris, and had barely practiced the discipline in the lead-up to the Winter Olympics, Guseli was philosophical about the way his evening ended.
“To be honest, I took quallies as a little bit of a joke,” he said.
Australia’s Valentino Guseli on Saturday night. Credit: AP
“I don’t know if that sounds bad, but since I didn’t expect to be there – and then when I got there, it was like so late notice – I had goals. I didn’t have expectations. I just went out there and tried to do the best riding I could, and then miraculously I made the finals.
“Tonight I took it a little bit more seriously. I knew that I was going to have to do some pretty big stuff… I know that I definitely threw the best stuff that I could. First big air final in a long time. I was stoked to be out there. I left it all out there for sure. I couldn’t have tried harder or wanted it more. So yeah, no regrets.”
Having aimed to become the first male snowboarder to qualify for the halfpipe, slopestyle and big air events at the Olympics, there is still an outside chance Guseli could pull off that unprecedented trifecta.
Though he only qualified for the halfpipe, the suspected concussion McMorris suffered on the night before big air qualification gave the frizzy-haired kid from NSW’s south coast a last-minute reprieve – and he may get another for the slopestyle should McMorris, or any of the other competitors in the 30-strong field, be unable to ride on February 16.
Japan’s Kira Kimura won gold.Credit: Getty Images
If not, as Meatloaf once said, two out of three ain’t bad.
“I know him … not super well. I hope he’s doing all right,” Guseli said of McMorris.
“I’d say he’ll probably be OK for slopestyle, which is really good news, because you never want to see one of your competitors not be able to compete – especially someone that’s done as much for the sport as Mark has.
“I haven’t spoken to him or even seen him or anything, but something that I wanted to make sure I did was … he came out, I went in, so essentially I had his spot and I wanted to do something special with his spot, like just pay my respects to him.”
Guseli is due to return to the Livigno facility on Sunday to train ahead of the halfpipe, where he is expected to pose one of the biggest threats to James’ bid for a legacy-defining gold medal. That competition begins on Thursday morning (AEDT).
“It’s going to be great. Hopefully we can both get up there and make Australia proud,” he said.
“Just being in the [Olympic] bib … I’ll definitely be more comfortable in that by the time the pipe rolls around, so I’ve just got to get my riding up to where it needs to be. I’m looking forward to it.”
The Winter Olympic Games will be broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
