Japanese snowboarder Yuto Totsuka wins Olympic gold in halfpipe ahead of Scotty James

James had two shots to beat Totsuka's score of 95 points. His first attempt earned him 93.50 points, good enough for a second straight Olympic silver medal.

James then had one more go with the last run of the final, but his chances at gold ended when he lost balance and tipped over near the bottom of the pipe. He held his face in his gloves while sitting on the snow after his fall.

The 31-year-old Australian had come to the Olympics, his fifth, having said that not having won a gold medal was “the elephant in the room” of a career filled with multiple titles, including four world championships.

He won his third Olympic medal after bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and silver four years ago at the Beijing Games. But he still wants that gold.

“To be honest, I’m a bit numb,” James said. “I’ll have time to think about it and have a proper answer, I’m sure, in the next 24 hours. But look, it was an amazing competition, it was great to be a part of it, and, Yuto won, and that’s, that’s what it is.”

James said he had no regrets about his strategy and choice of tricks.

“I definitely did it my way and my way was the right way,” he said. “It was just up to me to, to do a better job of it, and I didn’t, and that’s why I guess I came up second, so I can live with that.”

James, the oldest rider in the final, wiped his eyes as he approached the podium. Friday's event ended like four years ago, when he came up short against Ayumu Hirano. The defending champion from Japan finished Friday's final in seventh place while still recovering from a bad fall in competition last month in Switzerland.

It was the 24-year-old Totsuka, not James, who took the baton from Hirano.

Totsuka, competing at the Olympics for the third time, also wiped his eyes as he shed some tears of joy when they placed the gold medal around his neck.

Ryusei Yamada of Japan claimed the bronze medal. Teammate Ruka Hirano finished fourth, showing just how deep the Japanese contingent was.

These were medals No. 5 and 6 for Japanese snowboarders at the Milan Cortina Games. Three of those have been gold.

Kira Kimura and Ryomo Kimata took gold and silver, respectively, in men’s big air. Kokomo Murase won gold in women’s big air, while Mitsuki Ono took bronze in women’s halfpipe.

After Wednesday’s qualifying, New Zealand rider Campbell Melville Ives said “all the boys are going for blood,” predicting a massive battle in the final.

And while he and Guseli Valentino of Australia tried to land huge runs (Guseli reached 5.8 meters, or 19 feet, on one jump over the halfpipe), only James could challenge Totsuka and the other the Japanese riders.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics