The veteran Scotty James of Australia was heavily tipped to complete the set and add a gold medal to his silver and bronze in the snowboard halfpipe. But the ascendant Japanese team had other ideas.
James laid down a run that looked good enough for gold, but he slammed into the buzz saw of the Japanese team, and had to settle for another silver by a small margin behind the gravity-defying run of Yuto Totsuka, 24. “I had to bring out my originality in all the different tricks that I did,” Totsuka told Agence France-Presse.
Totsuka’s second run was his best, as he landed two 1440s, or four full rotations. James, who had fallen on Run 1, landed three 1440s on his second run. But he was judged to be behind Totsuka, by a mere point.
With the gold on the line in Run 3, James was perfect until his last trick, when he went for a 1620 and landed on his rear, leaving him with the silver.
The Japanese team also landed third (Ryusei Yamada), fourth and seventh place. Japan now has three gold medals, following wins in the men’s and women’s snowboard big air, and 12 medals overall.
Victor Mather, who has been a reporter and editor at The Times for 25 years, covers sports and breaking news.
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