At the park and pipe final event in Silvaplana, Switzerland, snowboard teen-sensation Valentino Guseli received the Crystal Globe as the overall World Cup winner, his second globe of the season.
 
In a historic season, Guseli became the first snowboarder to ever record podium performances in the same season in three separate disciplines – big air, slopestyle, and halfpipe.
 
With each discipline becoming so specialised, Guseli’s achievement is truly extraordinary at just 17-years-of-age, as no other rider is capable of performing in more than one event at such a high level.
 
In total, Guseli had six podium performances over the season, with big air victory in Edmonton, slopestyle silver in Mammoth Mountain, and in the halfpipe, World Championship silver in Bakuriani, World Cup silver in Mammoth Mountain and Calgary, and bronze at the X-Games in Aspen.
 
On the final standings Guseli also won the Crystal Globe in big air, was second in halfpipe and third in slopestyle.

IMAGE: Overall World Cup champion Guseli with slopestyle winner Dusty Henricksen of the USA

Tess Coady has wrapped up her competition season in style, with a silver medal performance in the slopestyle event at the World Cup final at Silvaplana, in the iconic St Moritz-Engadin region of Switzerland.

The podium performance is the third of the season for the 22-year-old NSWIS snowboarder from Melbourne, also claiming a bronze medal earlier this month in the big air discipline at the World Championships in Bakuriani, and a silver medal in slopestyle during January at the X-Games in Aspen.

In the best of two run final, Coady made an impressive start with the highest score of all competitors in the first run, her high-quality rail section and jumps giving her a score of 85 points.

After the rail section at the top, her jumps included a frontside 900 tail grab, switch backside 900 Weddle, and finally a backside double cork 1080 Weddle to cap things off.

“Stoked to finish the competition season on the blocks with Julia and Anna. Time for some spring shredding,” said the 2022 Olympic bronze medallist.

American Julia Marino just edged Coady in the final run, scoring 87.25 points to record victory, with Austrian Anna Gasser rounding out the podium in third with 82.25

Also in the final was NSWIS rider Meila Stalker, who had a personal best World Cup finish in eighth place, her best run coming in the first run with a 57.25.

Later in the day, the men’s snowboard qualifying took place. Big Air World Cup Champion Valentino Guseli finished well down in 20th place and fellow teenager Jesse Parkinson was 24th. Both riders missed out on advancing to the final.

Tess Coady has finished the 2023 World Championships for Australia in style, taking home a bronze medal in the big air snowboard event in Bakuriani, Georgia. This is the largest ever medal haul for Australian at a World Championships, with six medals won in total, including four silver and two bronze.
 
The 2022 Olympic slopestyle bronze medallist made a great start in the three-run final with the two highest scoring jumps counting towards the final score, stomping a massive backside-1080-indi grab on her first hit. Coady then backed it up with a clean frontside-900-tail grab jump in run two, scoring 68.50 points.
 
In her third and final jump, Coady attempted a frontside-1080-tail grab jump, but was unable to land, with the jump not counting towards her final score.
 
The scores from her first two jumps gave her a total score of 153.25 points, putting her in third place. Coady now has a World Championship medal in two disciplines, adding to her slopestyle bronze from Aspen in 2021.
 
Recording the victory was Anna Gasser from Austria with a total score of 162.50, with Japanese rider Miyabi Onitsuka in second with 161.25.
 
“I am super stoked, I had pretty low expectations coming into today, with bad weather in the forecast, I was just hoping the conditions would be ok, but when we got here the landing was super soft and no wind, so it was sick,” said the 22-year-old from Melbourne.
 
“I definitely wanted to do the backside 1080 today, I did it in the slopestyle and it felt really good on that jump, I just had to make sure I got the speed right.”
 
“Its always hard to rally for big air after competing in slopestyle earlier in the week, I feel like slopestyle is my discipline, so I kind of put my heart and soul into that, so to come out with a medal in big air is really good.”
 
“The performance of the Australian team has been insane, you see your fellow Aussies doing well and it lifts you and you want to carry that momentum.”

Teen snowboard prodigy Valentino Guseli has claimed the silver medal in an incredible halfpipe performance at Bakuriani, Georgia, taking home his first ever World Championship medal.
 
After battling injury all week which forced Guseli to miss the slopestyle and big air events, the 17-year-old pushed on to win Australia’s fifth medal at the World Championships.
 
In the best of three run final, Guseli fell on his first run, but improved to score 83.25 points on his second run, then stepped it up in the final run adding a cab-triple-1440 to score a huge 93 points, narrowly missing victory by just half a point to fellow teenager Chaeun Lee of Korea. Rounding out the podium in third place was Swiss rider Jan Scherrer with 89.25.
 
Three-time World Champion and two-time Olympic medallist Scotty James just missed recording his fifth career World Championship medal , finishing in fifth place with his best score of 86.50 points coming in his second run.
 
“I am pretty stoked, considering that a week ago I was crawling around my apartment not sure if I was going to be able to do anything here, I am really happy,” said Guseli who hails from Dalmeny on the NSW South Coast.
 
“The cab-triple-1440 was a trick I learnt in November, and I have been struggling a little bit with it all year, I perfected it a week before coming here training in Laax, Switzerland, landing five in a row and felt really comfortable with them.”
 
“All of my success this year has been a process, I obviously wanted that the first year I was at World Cup riding at this level three years ago, but it’s been a process figuring everything out and happy to be finally trying to match it with the best in the world.”
 
“I grew up watching Scotty James, and now to be almost at a level where kids look up to me the same is pretty amazing.”
 
“If you want it enough you will make it happen, it’s all heart, put your heart into it and you will get it.”
 
The final event at the World Championships is scheduled to take place on Sunday, with Tess Coady representing Australia in the big air final.