Olympian Holly Crawford has challenged a world class field and finished seventh in the Sapporo 2017 Asian Winter Games women's halfpipe, held at the Bankei Ski Arena on Saturday.
 
With her attention firmly focused on the upcoming FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships in Sierra Nevada (ESP), Crawford admitted to being in 'preservation' mode and she took a conservative approach to the Asian Winter Games competition.
 
“It was a bit rough in there so I took it a bit easier,” Crawford said.
 
“Obviously it got a bit harder as the snow came through but it’s been really fun, good to be here,” she said. 
 
Crawford's second run in the best of two-round final achieved 60.25 and was stronger than her first run which scored 55.25. 
 
“Was good to get in there and get two runs down because often you don’t, it’s good preparation (for World Championships),” Crawford added. 
 
The three-time Olympian and World Champion has enjoyed her Asian Games experience and was pleased to be part of the Aussie team.
 
“Awesome experience to be here among all the young kids, they’re all really stoked. It’s kind of like a mini-Olympics, really great to be here with the team,” she said.
 
China and host nation Japan filled the top six placings with Chinese athlete Jiayu Liu putting down a 93-point first run to win the competition by a commanding 14.5 points.

Seven years ago two 15-year-old rookies readied themselves to take on the world’s best on sport’s grandest stage, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

New to the international scene, Moguls skier Britt Cox and Halfpipe snowboarder Scotty James were given their first taste of Olympic Games’ pressure.

Cox had only competed in her first World Cup just three weeks before and James was a late injury replacement but both athletes were called on to wear the Aussie colours and soak up the Olympic experience.

Fast forward to 2017 and the duo are on top of the world.

Cox has a dominant lead in the world rankings having won six World Cup events to begin the season including gold at the PyeongChang 2018 test event.

Not one to be outdone, James took out the 2015 World Championships, recently became an X Games gold medallist and secured the World Cup title last weekend by also taking out the top step on the podium at the home of the 2018 Games.

The pair of now 22-year-olds are forever grateful of being given that early chance to help with their development and to propel them to where they are today.

“I really feel like I gained a lot of valuable insight and knowledge in Vancouver that helped my development as an athlete,” Cox said.

“I was thrown in the deep end which was actually perfect because I didn’t really have time to comprehend the situation and get nervous.

“I just treated it like any other competition and then soaked up the Olympic atmosphere. I got to see the top end athletes train and compete and it gave me a great insight of how I could get to that level.”

It has been that insight that has allowed Cox to become the dominant athlete she is today. “Experiencing the games in Vancouver as a competitor when I was 15 helped me become more accustomed to the hype that surrounds the Olympic Games,” continued Cox.

“I’ve been able to apply this to other major events in my career thus far.”

It was much the same for James.
“Getting to compete in Vancouver definitely helped my development,” he said.

“Being exposed to such excitement, atmosphere and what it meant to wear my country colours was awesome at such a young age.”

At that first major event with the world watching James realised what it would take to become the athlete he is today.

“Not to put too much pressure on myself, with such a big audience and a great atmosphere it comes down to how you handle the nerves.”

The duo have been supported along their journey to the top by the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA).

The OWIA together with the AOC, Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) and the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) have provided programs for athletes in the winter sports covering coaching, international competition opportunities and support services including medical, strength and conditioning, psychology and physiotherapy.

“Our developing athletes have been really lucky compared to their peers in other countries,” said OWIA CEO Geoff Lipshut.

“The AOC together with SSA (Ski & Snowboard Australia) provided a unique opportunity for Britt and Scotty and we are really seeing the dividends of this seven years down the track.

“It is great that the Olympic Team is able to help with the development of our best youngsters.”

Now with the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games less than a year away both Cox and James, who also both lined up in Sochi, have their sights set on replicating their recent success in Korea.

“I absolutely love South Korea. The people are awesome, everyone loves snowboarding and is very supportive and helpful” James said.

“They’ve put on a really good pipe and I’m sure it’s going to be exactly the same next year, so I think we can expect another really fierce competition in a year’s time.

“All the experiences over the years have been put in my pocket and embraced. I'll be ready!”

Cox added: “I am always learning and developing as an athlete and I will carry the knowledge I gained from Vancouver and Sochi with me through the next 12 months.

“It’s great to have that insight however, Sochi was a completely different experience to Vancouver and I suspect Korea to be different again and that’s exciting.”

James now heads to the US to continue competing while Cox will be looking to build on her World Cup lead when she takes to the air in Thaiwoo, China this weekend.

Scotty James has put down “the run of his life” to win gold at the Phoenix PyeongChang Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup.

His third and final run in today’s competition not only secured James the individual World Cup victory, but he takes home the overall 2016/2017 Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup series crown.

In an Australian first, Scotty James is the current World Cup, World Championship and X Games champion. He wears three of the four major world snowboard halfpipe crowns, the fourth being Olympic glory.

“I am absolutely over the moon!” James said.

“I knew what I had to do to come away with a win today and I just had to let the rest do the talking.

“To come away on top is just an amazing feeling.”

The two-time VIS Olympian qualified for the final in fifth place. After a shaky start, only scoring 24.75 points in the first run of the final, James returned to his exceptional form to score 92.25 in the second run, before his series winning 96-point performance.


“The first one was just trying to get the jitters out,” the 22-year-old said.

“I unfortunately came unstuck, but was able to put the next two down and probably the run of my life on the last one.

“I knew I had to mix it up to come away with a win today, especially with a field like there is here.”

To claim the win, James had to defeat legendary American snowboarder Shaun White.

White is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, and winner of 24 winter and summer X Games medals in
snowboarding and skateboarding.

Winner of the Mammoth World Cup last weekend, White threatened James’ victory today, finishing second overall, a mere one point behind James with a score of 95. China’s Yiwei Zhang won bronze with 93.25.

James entered the final World Cup event sitting in second place on the overall leader board with 1700 points, trailing American Chase Josey by 260 points.

His victory at Bokwang Snow Park scored him 1000 points towards the discipline world standings and he claimed the overall series with 2700 points.

Josey finished second overall with 2360 points and White won bronze with 1930 points.

James is having the season he’s always hoped for.

After finishing in the top 10 for all World Cup events this season - including winning silver in Laax in January – the 2015 World Champion won gold in the men’s SuperPipe at the 2017 Aspen X Games on Australia Day.

“I am in a really good place at the moment on my board and off my board – life is really good.

“I’ve made big changes in my off-season and my pre-season. I started to take myself a little bit more seriously and approach it with a different attitude, and I will continue to do that.”

To further sweeten today’s glory, his win comes at the Test Event for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

According to James the pipe itself is exceptional, as is the atmosphere in PyeongChang.

“It has been an amazing week here in Korea – they have put on an amazing event for us.

“I absolutely love South Korea. The people here have been awesome, everyone loves snowboarding and is very supportive and helpful.

“And then the halfpipe obviously - they really turned that up for us.

“They’ve put on a really good pipe and I’m sure it’s going to be exactly the same next year, so I think we can expect another really fierce competition in a year’s time.”

Teammate Kent Callister also qualified for today’s 10-man final, finishing in eighth place; while Nate Johnstone finished 31st.

In the women’s competition, 2016 Youth Olympian Emily Arthur had her first top-10 finish for the season, placing 10th with a run of 72.25. Triple Olympian Holly Crawford placed 13th and is now heading to Sapporo to represent Australia at the Asian Winter Games.

Although the World Cup season has come to an end, it is not the end of the Northern Hemisphere winter season for our snowboarders. James will now fly back to the US for the next American Cup, before defending his World Championship title in Sierra Nevada, Spain in March.

And he cannot wait for more to come.

“I’m in a really good place now, but I’ve still got a bit of a fire under my butt!

“I still want to keep on pushing and I’ve got stuff to work on to keep solidifying my place on top of the podium.

“I’ve now got a bit of a target on my back, but I like this position and I will keep working hard to make sure I can stay on top.”

Georgia Thompson
olympics.com.au

IMAGE: Halfpipe World Cup podium with (ltr) 2nd Shaun White (USA), 1st Scotty James (AUS) and 3rd Yiwei Zhang (CHN) in Bokwang Phoenix Park. Photo: Mateusz Kielpinski

The Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup competition heads to Korea this weekend for the final event of the series, which doubles as the Test Event for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

For Scotty James, the Phoenix PyeongChang World Cup is the final chance for him to make up the points needed to take out the overall series title.

Currently sitting in second place on the leader’s board with 1700 points, the two time Olympian is trailing American Chase Josey by 260 points.

The 2015 World Champion has had another very strong season, winning gold at the X Games in Aspen on Australia Day, and finishing in the top-10 at every World Cup event with his best result a silver medal in Laax in January.

A solid performance at the Bokwang Snow Park this weekend would be the icing on the cake of a stellar season.

“I’m excited to cap off the World Cup season, hopefully on top,” James said.

“The game plan for this event is to take the same approach as every other one – enjoy myself and the competition. Let the rest just fall into place.

“I’ve got some great competitors here so it’s going to be a good show.”

James will be joined in Korea by fellow Aussies Kent Callister, currently in 12th place on the World rankings, and Nate Johnstone in 20th place.

For Johnstone, he will relish his first experience of the Olympic venue.

“Korea is just one more stepping stone to get over in qualifying for the Olympics,” Johnstone said.

“Being the Test Event, there is a little extra pressure but I am excited more than anything because it’s our first look at what the Games are going to be like when we get there.

“I’ve only been to one other event in Korea and that was a long time ago, but they put on really good events so I’m expecting it to be pretty good conditions for the halfpipe.”

Scotty James is already in Korea and can confirm Johnstone’s expectations of the pipe.

“The halfpipe is awesome,” James said on Tuesday.

“I had the first day of practice today and it went great. The halfpipe cutter, Jeremy, did a great job and I'm really enjoying Korea so far.”

The men’s qualification round for the Phoenix PyeongChang Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup will be held on Friday 17 February, kicking off at 1.45pm AEDT. The final will be held from 3pm AEDT on Sunday afternoon.

The men will then head to Sierra Nevada, Spain in early March for the Snowboard Halfpipe World Championships.

Georgia Thompson
Olympics.com.au

Just two weeks after claiming his third World Cup medal of his career, Russ Henshaw has qualified for another slopestyle skiing final this morning in Quebec City, Canada.

His podium finish in Seiser Alm, Italy, which earned him a bronze medal, marked a big success in his return from repeat injuries over the last four years.

Now, after illness kept him out of competition in Mammoth, USA, the Australian has shown he knows how to bounce back well, delivering an 84.66 in his 2nd Run to qualify for the 16-man final out of Heat 2.

The fourth World Cup course of the season has been designed to highlight the best of the extraordinary skills shown by some of the best skiers in the world.

Three kickers in a row, each gradually building in size, open the run with skiers then taking on three simultaneous rail sections, offering many different trick options for riders to showcase their best tricks.

Henshaw will be back on the course for the finals on Monday morning at 4am (AEDT) in his bid for more silverware in 2017.​ 

Weather has played havoc at the US Snowboard and Freeskiing Grand Prix event in Mammoth Mountain, CA, USA, with events shortened or cancelled completely.
 
The US Grand Prix also doubles as a FIS World Cup event counting towards Olympic qualification. Unfortunately, wild weather featuring high winds and snow forced the cancellation of the men’s Slopestyle Skiing event which was to feature Russ Henshaw and Ryley Lucas. The extremely heavy conditions led to the men’s Snowboard Halfpipe and Slopestyle qualification rounds to be abandoned.
 
In total, four top ten performances where achieved by the Australian athletes across three different disciplines.
 
The highlight of the event was 16-year-old NSWIS Snowboarder Tess Coady placing sixth in the slopestyle final in her first ever World Cup. Jess Rich was unable to advance to the eight woman final, finishing in 21st place.
 
VIS 2017 X-Games Gold Medallist Scotty James was the leading Australian male in the men’s Snowboard Halfpipe, finishing in sixth place. NSWIS riders Kent Callister and Nathan Johnstone also had good runs in the difficult conditions placing eighth and eleventh respectively.
 
In the women’s Snowboard Halfpipe, Holly Crawford made a positive start to her first event of the season finishing in eighth place, just missing advancing to the final by two places. Emily Arthur was also in action with a 14th place qualification performance.
 
The Snowboard Halfpipe athletes now head to PyeongChang, Korea, for the Olympic Test Event World Cup, with the Slopestyle Snowboarders and Skiers off to World Cup events in Quebec City, Canada.

IMAGE: Tess Coady in nicer weather conditions at Mammoth at the start of the week! © Tess Coady Instagram

After becoming one of the nation’s youngest ever Winter Olympians in 2010, James competed at his second Games in 2014 and went on to become World Champion in 2015.
 
It wasn’t much of a surprise then when he went out and backed up his World Cup silver to start 2017 with X Games gold last weekend in Aspen.
 
“It was overwhelming,” James said.
 
“I had so much support from Australia as well as the US on the back of the event. It was quite special having some of the family at the bottom there watching too.”
 
The young gun will now look to continue that hot form when he hits the pipe at the Mammoth Mountain World Cup event in California this weekend.
 
“I am feeling great on my board and the past couple of competitions have been a result of my preparation for this year. It's been an awesome ride so far and looking forward to more.
 
“I have come down with a bit of a cold post X Games but I have been up riding the practice days. I really love Mammoth and the pipe here and am excited for this week.”
 
James will be joined by rising star and 2016 Winter Youth Olympic silver medallist Emily Arthur and three-time Olympian Holly Crawford.
 
Arthur recently finished 19th at the opening World Cup event of the season in Copper Mountain and will be looking to push her way up the rankings.
 
“It's been super fun being out in Mammoth and the pipe is insanely good,” said Arthur.
 
“It’s also nice as I have been based here this season so it's kind of like being on my home turf.”
 
“It's such a stacked field out here I'm just planning to go out, land some runs and have fun. Hopefully it will pay off.”
 
Like many of her Australian counterparts Arthur was stoked to see one of her teammates rise to the top of the sport.
 
“Scotty has been killing the game and it's so rad to see, it's kept Australia frothing and me too for sure.
 
“Hopefully some of his success rubs off on us.”
 
For Crawford the event will be a chance to get back on the snow as she competes at her first FIS event in just under 12 months as she looks to push towards a fourth Olympic appearance in PyeongChang.
 
“I’ve only been back on my board for a little over a week since early March last year so I’m just hoping to get back into the swing of things and hopefully come out with a good result,” Crawford said.
 
“The pipe has been really good here and practice has gone well. Unfortunately there is some bad weather coming in so fingers crossed it holds off.”