Scotty James has blown away the opposition to set his World Cup season off in style with a dominant win in the series-opening snowboard halfpipe event at Copper Mountain, Colorado.
The Australian snowboard superstar performed an almost faultless second run to register a score of 99 from the judges.
The two-time Olympic medallist and three-time world champion from Melbourne – who also scored an impressive 97 on his first run – finished well clear of Switzerland’s Jan Scherrer in second place with 96.25.
Kaishu Hirano, of Japan, was third with a best score of 88.25, while James’ fellow Australian Valentino Guseli finished seventh on the leaderboard with 82.50.
Guseli, 17, won his first ever World Cup event last week in big air and made a strong start in his opening halfpipe event of the season, qualifying for finals in second place.
James’ points-guzzling winning run included a switch McTwist to start, followed by a cab double cork 1440, frontside 1080, cab 900 and switch backside double cork 1260 to finish.
The result handed the 28-year-old the seventh World Cup victory of his career.
“Definitely the highest score I have ever gotten in my life, and I am not going to lie, it might be one of the most satisfying runs I have ever done,” he said after high-fiving the crowd on the way down his third and final run.
“I have to say I feel like I got some soul back.
“The progression is so rapid these days, and I am really happy to be a part of that, but I also thought that I wanted to make some new additions with some creativity, and as we would say as snowboarders, ‘get the soul’.”
The next World Cup halfpipe event will be in Laax, Switzerland, on January 21.
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