Australia’s teen sensation Valentino Guseli has received a silver medal within the snowboard halfpipe occasion on the FIS Freestyle World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia.
Key factors:
- Valentino Guseli completed second within the snowboard halfpipe occasion, simply 0.5 factors behind first place
- Three-time world champion Scotty James completed in fifth place
- Australia has now received 5 medals on the FIS Freestyle World Championships, essentially the most ever
It was Australia’s fourth silver medal of the competitors and fifth total.
The 17-year-old from Dalmeny on the New South Wales south coast was agonisingly near a maiden world crown too, lacking out on the gold medal by simply half some extent to 16-year-old Chaeun Lee, who turns into the youngest ever males’s snowboard world champion.
Guseli has already loved a historic season wherein he grew to become the primary snowboarder to face on the World Cup podium in all three park and pipe disciplines in a single marketing campaign: huge air, halfpipe and slopestyle.
“I’m fairly stoked,” Guseli advised the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia.
“All of my success this 12 months has been a course of, I clearly needed that the primary 12 months I used to be at World Cup driving at this degree three years in the past, but it surely’s been a course of figuring all the pieces out and pleased to be lastly making an attempt to match it with one of the best on this planet.”
After bailing out of his first run within the last, Guseli landed a strong second mixture to attain 83.25 factors and sit fourth.
Swiss veteran and bronze medallist from final 12 months’s Winter Olympics in Beijing Jan Scherrer led the sphere with an 89.25 in his first run, which seemed set to face the length because the world’s high rivals didn’t execute their runs.
Nonetheless, a sensational last spherical noticed each Lee and Guseli storm previous him to take the highest two positions.
Guseli pulled out all of the stops in his last run, which included a cab 14 triple cork for the primary time ever in competitors — a trick he solely perfected final week.
“The cab-triple-1440 was a trick I learnt in November, and I’ve been struggling somewhat bit with all of it 12 months,” Guseli stated.
“I perfected it every week earlier than coming right here, coaching in Laax, Switzerland, touchdown 5 in a row and felt actually snug with them.”
After a protracted deliberation from the judges, throughout which Guseli pleaded for them to provide him the nod over his South Korean rival, the 2022 Olympic finalist was awarded a rating of 93.00, simply shy of Lee’s 93.50.
“In order for you it sufficient … it is all this, it is all coronary heart,” Guseli stated.
“Put your coronary heart into it and you will get it.”
Three-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist Scotty James was unable to execute on his last run, ending in fifth spot having certified second.
“I grew up watching Scotty James,” Guseli stated.
“Now to nearly be at a degree the place youngsters can look as much as me the identical is fairly wonderful and I am tremendous honoured.”
Guseli’s silver is simply the newest of 5 medals Australia has received on the competitors — the equal sixth most of all of the nations competing.
It’s the most medals Australia has ever received at a Freestyle World Championships — with Tess Coady nonetheless to compete within the snowboard huge air occasion this weekend.
Matt Graham received silver within the moguls and bronze within the twin moguls competitors final week, earlier than Danielle Scott earned silver within the ladies’s aerials.
On Thursday, 20-year-old World Championship debutant Josie Baff received silver within the snowboard cross occasion forward of Olympic champion Lindsey Jacobellis.
There have been some close to misses for Australian athletes too.
Olympic slopestyle bronze medallist Coady got here agonisingly near profitable a bronze medal within the snowboard slopestyle, ending simply 0.20 factors behind Miyabi Onitsuka.