- Australian snowboarder Scotty James aims to win his first Olympic gold medal at the 2026 Winter Games.
- James seeks to revolutionize snowboarding by focusing on difficult backside riding techniques.
- The five-time Olympian has previously won a silver and a bronze medal in the men’s halfpipe.
LIVIGNO, Italy – Scotty James has gold-medal-level ambition at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games. As a men’s halfpipe contender and potential favorite, that’s probably healthy.
The Australian’s larger goal entering the season, however, goes beyond the podium.
“My goal this year was to revolutionize snowboarding in the way that I would interpret it,” he said during a Feb. 7 news conference. “It’s obviously subjective, but I wanted to push it in the way that made me full.”
Full, like his trophy case. The one thing that’s missing, though, is an Olympic gold medal. James topped the field with a score of 94.00 during his first run of qualifiers and will look to maintain that top spot during Friday’s halfpipe finals (1:30 p.m. ET, Feb. 13).
The five-time Olympian, who made his debut at the 2010 Vancouver Games at the age of 15, has a bronze (PyeongChang, 2018) and a silver (Beijing, 2022). James entered the 2026 Olympics at the height of his powers, with a record-tying — matching Shaun White — eighth X Games halfpipe victory. He also won the Laax Open in Switzerland in late January.
Beyond the accolades, James said, the most rewarding part is riding the way he wants to. He did that four years ago and lost in China, edged out by Ayumu Hirano, who landed a triple cork.
“Winning an Olympics would be amazing. I don’t think I need it to validate who I am as a snowboarder,’ James said. ‘I think I’m doing that just by the way I ride my board and how I interpret riding myself.”
NBC announcer Todd Richards mentioned during James’ news conference there are easier ways to reach the podium. That’s not James’ way. What James means when he says all of this is to advance backside riding – literally going backwards from the rider’s traditional stance from wall to wall.
“I plan to push it in the directions I want to push it,” he said.
The sport has evolved over James’ career. In 2010, double corks were introduced. Over the next cycle, the backside double 1400, created by White, was in vogue. By 2018, doing back-to-back double 1400s became the same standard. At the last Games, James said, he was surprised switch backside was not being explored. He’s still trying to convince the competition – through his riding that – backside, technical riding is the advancement the sport deserves. For these Games, he plans on having three backside hits compared to two frontside, while most others will do three frontside and two backside.
“I think history tells the facts of what’s actually hard,” said James, who is married to F1 driver Lance Stroll’s sister. “For me, it’s been really rewarding.”
Scotty James lets pressure, family fuel him
Driving through the Valtellina Valley and toward Livigno, James thought about the opportunity that awaited him at the journey’s completion.
“I think pressure is a beautiful thing,” he said, “if you let it. I’ll soak in that beauty. At least, that’s what I tell myself.”
The halfpipe is what he thinks about when he goes to sleep and when he rises. Not because it consumes him, James said, but because it is his passion.
Joining James in northern Italy are his siblings and parents, his wife and son, one-yea-old Leo. As they all crammed into an apartment here to make dinner one night, James said it screamed “Italian family” to him.
James admitted that Leo’s birth forced him to consider the danger of his sport in a different light. But having a son has only made him more passionate about pursuing greatness.
Should he retire? James didn’t scoff at the question but would have been justified had he. He looks after himself, mentally and physically, he said.
“Well, no one thought back-to-back 1440s is possible,” he said. “I’m 31 years old and I did it. I don’t think an Olympic gold medal is unattainable.
“It’s also not my last go-round, either.”
The preparation of trick-to-snow, James joked, involves many sleepless nights, he said. A change of underwear or three, he joked.
James is not alone, as an elite snowboarder whose stat sheet induces boredom. The United States’ Chloe Kim, who took silver after back-to-back golds in the women’s halfpipe, felt similarly. For so long, Kim said, she won “doing the same runs over and over and over again.”
The winning didn’t feel good, she said.
‘I really started to resent snowboarding because it wasn’t satisfying in the way that I had wanted it to be, and I think I had to make that shift and start snowboarding for myself and not worry too much about the medals and the awards and whatnot,” Kim said. “I wanted to do what felt good for me, and in doing so, it allowed me to fall in love with the sport again.’
Watching her competitors helped Kim see how far she could go as a snowboarder. For example, she didn’t think she could land a double cork. But once other women started landing it, she wanted to join the party.
‘I think that seeing this new shift and progression has inspired me to push my limits and try things I’ve never done before … so, happy camper,” she said.
The key, though, is bringing the judges along for the ride. James said he thinks they’ve joined him on the journey, but he understands that this is a subjective sport, with a sizable portion of the results beyond his control.
“I think that this time around it was important for me to take them on the journey of where I want to push the sport without, obviously, having that conversation, just taking them on the runs that I’m doing this year,” James said. “It’s obviously nice when you get affirmation in being able to win two big events before this. Hopefully they perceive what’s difficult the same way I do, but that’s never a sure thing.”
Float like a butterfly, sting like a … boarder?
At James’ home, he has a ‘pool room,’ which is really an office with his stacked memorabilia collection. The ‘GOAT room,’ he sometimes calls it, with artifacts, signatures and famous quotes from elite athletes he admires. There are signed Kobe Bryant journeys and items from Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and more.
His prized possession, though, is a piece of cardboard signed by Muhammad Ali. Two years ago, as James told it, he told his memorabilia dealer that he felt like he was ‘on the back foot’ of life. He was feeling OK. But maybe not like his normal self. The seller said he had something special to show him.
Ali had a signing event with this dealer in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2002. The photos he was signing for fans were placed in a cardboard folder. During a lunch break, Ali started doodling – two mountains, an ocean between and a tiny boat floating on the water. A lighthouse stands on one of the coasts. It’s drawn in Sharpie. He signed it in the corner, and the dealer had never planned on parting with it until James’ mood and honesty somehow moved him to sell it.
Ali titled it ‘Guiding Light.’ James won X Games the weekend after he purchased it.
‘It’s literally a piece of Muhammad Ali’s brain onto a piece of paper, which I own, in my office, which is amazing,” James said.
A gold medal next to it would also look amazing. And if James can place it there one day, it will be on his own terms.
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