Beijing 2022 bronze medallist Tess Coady has wrapped up her Olympic campaign with a top-10 finish in the women's snowboard big air.

After claiming Australia's first medal of the 2022 Olympic Games, Tess capped off her Games finishing ninth in the final.

"Really sick today, the jump is riding so good," Tess said.

"[The] weather is really good and we didn't have much of a head wind.

"Just from the practice this morning we understood it was going to be on, and everyone rode so well. It was really cool to be a part of.

"The big air [jump] was sick, everyone threw down... everyone rode super hard.

"On this stage, people just want to go for it. It's the pinnacle for us and everyone just rode really well and it was such a great competition.

"I didn't land my tricks but it was so good to see some really great riders land and end up on the podium."

She has thoroughly enjoyed her Olympic experience and doesn't go home empty handed.

"It's been unbelievable, I had such a good time.

"Coming here has been definitely challenging. I put all my energy into slopestyle because it was pretty much what I was here for.

"But I'm just so stoked to have made the finals [in big air] and just tried to make something I've never tried before and that was just really fun.

"It's definitely been a crazy road to get here, especially the last couple of years with COVID-19. But I'm so stoked to be here and the IOC has done an incredible job with COVID-19 [countermeasures] to make the Games so enjoyable and it's been a really great experience.

"Although I'm definitely looking forward to going home and see my family and friends."

Lauren Ryan

The wizard from Warrandyte Scotty James has won a well-deserved silver medal at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, alongside Olympic debutant Valentino Guseli finishing 6th.

In arguably the most anticipated event of the Games, Australia's dominance in the halfpipe was on display with the best snowboard talent from around the globe, including from five-time Olympian Shaun White from the USA.

A special anticipation and excitement was in the air early at the Genting Snow Park halfpipe, in the athlete Villages and all the way back in Australia – particularly in Scotty's hometown of Warrandyte and Valentino's home Dalmeny, or ‘Valmeny'.

Clear blue skies, no wind and a brisk –12C made for perfect competition conditions and a picturesque setting for what would be one of the biggest and most exciting halfpipe finals in Olympic history.

Scotty was thrilled to win a silver medal for Australia with a score of 92.50, with Japan's Ayumu Hirano only better with a 96.00 to take the gold.

"I feel amazing. If you had of said to me a long time ago that I would be a two-time Olympic medallist I would have said that you were dreaming." Scotty said.

"I'm honestly just really proud. It's a proud moment and obviously so much work goes into this. Ayumu (Hirano) is an amazing competitor to me and we have some really good rivals, I knew I had to deliver my best and I gave it my best shot in the end there and unfortunately came unstuck.

"I was really happy and proud with my second run. It's the most technical run I've ever done in my life and that was my vision today. I was super happy that it put me on the podium."

Rocking his trademark red gloves and wide grin, Scotty James was the second last athlete to take his first run after qualifying second for the finals.

It was a nail-biting battle for podium places among the top four competitors. Both Scotty James and Ayumu Hirano fell on their first runs to only score 16.50 and 33.75 respectively.

While challengers Jan Scherrer (70.59) from Switzerland and the greatest of all-time Shaun White earned a 72.00.

In the last competition of his illustrious career, the pressure was on Shaun White to produce a huge performance in his second run, which he turned into an 85.00 - his best run of the day to place 4th.

Scotty James' best run also came on his second attempt, with the wizard of Warrandyte taking the competition up a notch and smashing a stunning run and earning a 92.50 from the judges. It was a routine that could only be described as epic, starting with a switchback double cork 1260, followed by a front-nine tail grab, a backside 12 and finishing with a frontside 1440 tail grab that had spectators on their feet.

When asked about his medal-winning run Scotty James was still comprehending what he'd done.

"That combination has never been done before so I was really happy and thrilled to put that down.

"It's always funny doing interviews so quickly after because you don't get much time to process. So I think I'm just proud of what we did, proud of my team, proud of being out here representing Australia and that's all we can do."

On the very last run of the day, Hirano took out the gold medal.

The silver medal was well deserved for Scotty after a challenging few years for his camp, having to relocate to Switzerland to train as the pandemic made it difficult to attend competitions.

For Valentino Guseli, known for his big air and surprising skill, had three clean runs in the final. He earned a strong score of 75.75 in his first run to immediately jump into second place.

His consistency and strong performances resulted in a score of 79.75 from each of his second and third runs.

Valentino loved being on the Olympic stage in such a big occasion and sees himself having a long future in the sport.

"It was awesome to ride with all the homies. I think today was one of the biggest showings of competitive snowboarding ever. So it was awesome to be apart of it and super happy to have landed my runs," Valentino said.

"I had a really bad practice this morning, so I was just super happy to put my runs down. After I got through my first run [in the final] I started gaining a little bit of momentum and I guess it just led into the third run.

He was just as impressed as anyone about the performance Scotty James delivered.

"Scotty absolutely killed it. I'm super happy for him, he bettered his result and I'm sure he's going to continue to kill it around the world in all the other comps. He's the man."

With the pressure now off and Scotty looking forward to a medal ceremony in Beijing, he's already been thinking about what the future holds for him. Much to the delight of Australia, this won't be the last time we see the snowboarding sensation.

"Well I've got the bronze [from PyeongChang 2018], I've got the silver now... so there is only one left to get," Scotty said.

"So that's the plan."

olympics.com.au
Shannon Knaus

Four-time Olympian Scotty James has qualified in second position for Friday's final of the men's halfpipe competition at the Genting Snow Park and, in great news for the Australian Team, he'll be joined by 16-year-old debutant Valentino Guseli in the final.

Scotty put down scores of 88.25 and 91.25 to breeze into the final where he will be looking to add to the bronze medal he won four years ago.

Ayumu Hirano of Japan was the leading qualifier with a score of 93.25. American superstar Shaun White, competing in his final Olympic campaign, was the fourth best qualifier scoring 86.25.

"It's a beautiful day and I'm really happy with how that all went," Scotty said.

"The best bit was we stuck to our plan and when you do that you are happy with the result.

"My last trick was a frontside 1440 with a tail grab. I'm really happy to [have] put it all together."

Despite reaching the podium four years ago, Scotty isn't putting any pressure on himself ahead of the final on Friday.

"For me, I'd be happy on Friday to come out and execute exactly what my plan is."

Valentino showed nerves of steel to qualify in fifth position with a brilliant second run of 85.74. It was a score he needed to post after a first run of 31.75 that was well below his capabilities.

"On the first run I just made a little mistake which I've never made on that trick, ever," Val said.

"I tend to stay pretty calm, and I did that before the second run. I stepped away, reset [myself] and got myself ready to go. I am happy I stomped it."

Both competitors will have three runs down the halfpipe in the final, with qualification scores not carrying over. The best of each competitors' three scores will determine the medals.

Earlier in the day, PyeongChang 2018 finalist Emily Arthur was unable to advance to the last 12 in the women's competition.

Emily put down a solid first run of 62.50 to see her right on the cusp of the final 12 after the completion of the first round, but heading into her second run, she knew she needed to improve on her score as she had been relegated down to 13th place.

Despite a solid start, Emily was unable to stick one of her landings, crashing out and finishing with a score of 19.75. It saw her place 14th after the completion of two runs.

"It's OK, I'm walking away safely and not injured," Emily said.

"The second run was going really well, until I got there a little bit early, it's rough, I know I'm good enough to make the final but it's all OK.

The men's halfpipe final will be held on Friday 11 February from 12:30pm AEDT.

olympics.com.au
Damian Kelly

Tess Coady has become Australia's first medallist of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, taking out the bronze medal in the women's snowboard slopestyle at the Genting Snow Park.
 
It was pure elation for the 21-year-old from St Kilda in Melbourne, which finally puts the injury disappointment at PyeongChang 2018 behind her as she's become Australia's youngest woman to win a Winter Olympic medal.

Tess showed poise and skill beyond her years to post her bronze-medal clinching run, 84.15, on her last run in the competition. The score positioned her to occupy third position, after which she had to endure a nervous wait for the remaining competitors to potentially bump Tess off a podium finish.

She completed the podium with New Zealand's gold medallist Zoi Sadwoski Synnott who scored 92.88 and silver medallist Julia Marino from the United States of America whose best score from the judges was 87.68.

The bronze medal for Tess goes down as Australia's first ever Olympic medal in the snowboard slopestyle competition.

"That was wild, that was so insane," Tess said.

"Making it to the finals is always a win. Last night I was chatting to a friend and he said to me that I finally earned my ticket to freedom from the last four years.

"I really just took that mentality into today.

"I came back and got my redemption yesterday. Today I just wanted to have the best time and enjoy it the most and just send it."

Tess qualified for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics as Australia's youngest competitor at just 17 years-old. Unfortunately, she suffered a season-ending ACL injury during a training run on the Olympics course which robbed her of competing.

"It's crazy doing this kind of tour when you're a teenager. It's pretty easy to get to this big stage and think you're a rockstar. That kind of happened [to me], I just became complacent and sort of stopped working hard.

"[The injury] was totally kick up the arse that I needed to just get to work. In that whole year [rehabbing] I saw everyone getting so much better than me and when I got back on the snow, that was no excuses from here."

Tess knew she had the bronze medal locked up before the last run of the competition, which Sadwoski Synnott used to improve from a silver medal position to the gold medal.

The three medallists all share an extremely tight bond which dates back many competitions, and their emotions immediately spilled out together while sharing in each other's success.

"I love those girls so much. We're all so tight. It's pretty crazy in this sport, it's not like a lot of other sports where there's a lot of crazy competitiveness. There's nothing better than seeing someone land a good run.

"Julia, she's been struggling with slope events for the last year or two – not landing anything – and she was riding so good in the practice and it's so good to see her land something good because she deserves to be on that podium.

"And Zoe is one of my best mates. I'm just so, so hyped for her. She deserves that win so much."

After finishing yesterday's qualifying with the fifth best jump, Tess upped the ante in the final and set the tone for the rest of the field by being the first athlete of the competition to score over 80 with an 84.15.

The bronze medal for Tess becomes the 16th medal Australia has won in Winter Olympics history.

She had an encouraging result leading into the Beijing Olympics when she won bronze in the women's snowboard slopestyle at the 2021 World Championships in Aspen, Colorado.

olympics.com.au
Jeff Dickinson-Fox

Olympic debutant Matt Cox hasn't started his campaign in the fashion he hoped, missing the snowboard slopestyle finals.

The 23-year-old from Stanwell Park, New South Wales stepped onto the big stage in the zone, with the added motivation of just witnessing his teammate Tess Coady claim bronze.

Unfortunately it wasn't his day, as scores of 34.46 in the first run and 39.98 in the second weren't enough to qualify for the final, finishing 26th.

"The first run, in the start gate, I was there but I was two steps ahead of myself," Matt said.

"It was like I had already landed the run [in my mind], so I was going through [the run] but not quite present.

"I ended up making super small mistakes… I think that was down to jitters.

"I got back up there, was so ready for that second run and I was like ‘yeah this is it'. I had the feeling.

"We are all very talented snowboarders and all used to conditions changing. I guess a little bit of a mind game there, with it being a bit firmer than expected.

"I guess expectations always ruin reality, that was a bit of a rough one."

While Matt's slopestyle competition is over, he still has the big air to come which starts on Monday 14 February.

olympics.com.au
Lauren Ryan