LIVIGNO: Australia’s Valentino Guseli has crashed out of the men’s big air final at Milano Cortina 2026 after letting it all hang out in an all or nothing bid for the podium.
Despite crashing on his first run in the 12-man final on Sunday morning (AEDT), Guseli stood atop the ramp for his third and final run with a realistic shot of claiming a medal thanks to a high scoring second run of 86.75 after nailing a repeat of the highly technical trick that lifted him out of qualifying.
Only two competitors – Japanese gold medal winner Kira Kimura and Chinese bronze medallist Su Yiming – topped that score for any run during the final. He didn’t know it at the time, but to secure bronze Guseli needed only to score 81.8 or higher with his final run.
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The 20-year-old doesn’t really do ‘safe’ though and attempted a trick he had never before tried in competition with his third run. Had he landed it he may have even snatched gold.
Valentino Guseli reacts during the men’s snowboarding big air final in Livigno. AP
“I think the level was so high, everyone kind of had to go all in and throw the biggest stuff they could,” Guseli told reporters, including Wide World of Sports, after the final’s conclusion.
“I know that I threw the best stuff that I could – it was the third time I’d landed the switchback 19 ever in my life, which was my second trick. And it was the first time I’ve ever tried the back 19, which was my last trick that I crashed on unfortunately.”
Having banked just one decent score, Guseli finished the final in 10th place. While he may have been hoping for an out-of-the-box performance, the young gun admitted he had treated the big air competition as a bonus, having initially missed out on qualifying in that discipline for Milano Cortina.
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Val Guseli fell short of the podium in a scintillating big air final. Getty
“I was just stoked to be out there riding,” he said. “First big air final in quite a long time. First big air comp in the Olympics, so I was stoked to be out there. I had a lot of fun riding, I left it all out there, I couldn’t have tried harder or wanted it more. So yeah, no regrets.”
“To be honest, I took qualies as a bit of a joke,” he added, referencing his last minute call up to competition after a training crash ruled out Canadian star Mark McMorris.
“I don’t know if that sounds bad but I didn’t expect to be there and then once I got there it was so late notice that I sort of, I had goals, I didn’t have expectations. And I just went out there and tried to do the best riding I could. Miraculously I made the finals.
“Tonight I took a little more seriously. I knew I was going to have to land some pretty big stuff.”
Guseli’s focus now turns to the halfpipe, where he will go head-to-head with Scotty James, his mentor and the red hot gold medal favourite.
James spoke in a press conference on Saturday about being in Guseli’s corner throughout the 20-year-old’s career but conceded that any warm feelings towards his young countryman went out the window when they were competing against each other.
“He’s someone who can stand on the podium in any of the disciplines and I will always cheer him on to do that,” James said. “But cutting through the BS, we know, he and I know, that we have to try and beat each other and not just each other but the whole army of Japanese and Americans and everyone else as well.
“So the Olympics is obviously special in that we come here and represent a country, a team, but you also have to try to beat the next best person standing next to you.”
Guseli will be up for that challenge in his pet event, particularly after blowing the cobwebs out with an unexpected finals appearance to kick off his Olympic Games.
“It’s going to be great,” Guseli said. “Hopefully we can both get up there and make Australia proud.”