LIVIGNO: Young gun Aussie snowboarder Valentino Guseli was the toast of the slopes on Friday morning (AEDT) when he stunned the big air competition by flying into the final just hours after an unexpected call-up to the field.
The 20-year-old wasn’t meant to compete in the big air event at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games but was parachuted into the field after Canadian superstar Mark McMorris suffered a heavy crash in practice.
Guseli was the 25th athlete to head down the slope, and after his first two runs, he was sitting in 15th spot, with only the top 12 to progress through to the final.
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He then pulled out a stunning run, recording a 91.50 score to jump into 11th position and qualify for the final.
“I reached a state that I haven’t been in in quite a while, called ‘flow state’, and I could see it all just happened for me,” Guseli told Nine after his run.
“And sometimes that just happens, you know, you drop in, and then it’s like you didn’t even have to try. And the trick just works.
“And you get to the bottom, and you’ve landed like, I got to the bottom and I, like, snapped back into reality and realised, and I just, I don’t know, it was pretty crazy.
“So today, we basically still weren’t sure when we went and did this, but I haven’t really hit many jumps in the last little while. So I went over to the little baby park over there, hit the only jumps available, which were pretty small and worked on my tricks. And then yeah, by the time I did my last jump, I’d only hit this jump 10 times, which usually you’ve hit it like maybe 50 or 60 times by the time you’re more by the time you compete on it.
“So to have made finals now is just I’m so stoked about it. And yeah, definitely one of the top moments of my life.”
Valentino Guseli of Team Australia competes in the first run of big air. Getty
Aussie snow legend Torah Bright was stunned by Guseli’s third and final jump, impressed that he even tried the successful manoeuvre.
“Oh my gosh, it was so exhilarating,” she said on Nine.
“We knew he had the 1800s and the 1980s in there, but we were debating whether he was going to risk it all to get this finals start, or save it for halfpipe.
“Of course, his pure obsession with awesomeness and being rad in every way, Val sent it. That’s why he is Valentino Guseli, and he’s one to watch for these whole Games.
“He is made for this, and look at him, he knows it.
“There were only two other riders doing the 1980 in this even so he knew he had to pull everything out.
Australia’s Valentino Guseli celebrates. AP
“I’m sure there were tears shed. This is everything. Getting to the finals is what you want.”
Guseli shared a big hug with his father after learning he had qualified for the final.
Guseli had been attempting to qualify for Milano Cortina in three disciplines – big air, slopestyle and halfpipe – but was only successful in qualifying for the halfpipe.
The 20-year-old will compete alongside Scotty James in the halfpipe, giving Australia two very good medal chances, but will first throw everything at the big air.
Guseli narrowly missed out on qualifying for the big air last month but secured the first alternate position, leaving him poised to be brought into the field if any of the 30 qualifiers withdrew.
The twist of fate came when three-time Olympic medallist McMorris crashed out on Thursday.