From reserve rider to medal contender: Aussie snowboarder qualifies for final

Livigno: Valentino Guseli had long ago set his sights on becoming the first male snowboarder to compete in all three park and pipe events at the Olympics: the halfpipe, slopestyle and big air.

He still might, after kicking off Australia’s campaign at Milan Cortina 2026 in sensational style.

The “shred gods” were with him at the Livigno Snow Park on Thursday night. Guseli had failed to qualify for the first event here, the men’s big air, but was handed a last-minute reprieve after an injury the night before to Canadian rider Mark McMorris opened the door for him as first reserve.

Then he waltzed straight through it, scraping into the top 12 by a point to reach Sunday’s final (5.30am AEDT) with an overall score of 163.00 after a third run he will never forget.

With middle-of-the-road returns of 73.25 and 71.50 from his first two runs, which had him positioned 15th of 30 competitors, Guseli needed something special with his last trick to be any chance of progressing. He was contemplating a switch backside 1800 tailgrab; something on the safer side, to preserve himself for the only one of the three events he’d got a start for, the men’s halfpipe, which is on next week.

But his old man, Ric, who is also his coach, encouraged him to go large.

“We were talking about it, and he was like, ‘Dude, you might have to go the 19 to get the score,’” he said, referring to a 1980, or a move with five and a half rotations.

“And I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t know if it’s worth it.’ I didn’t say this to him, but what I thought was, I’m not going to go and try something like a Hail Mary that I could get destroyed on and miss out on halfpipe.

“And I thought that for a little bit, and then I thought: it’s the Olympics, man.

“I don’t remember exactly when I decided to send the 19, but once I decided it was like, let’s go. Then I ended up just finding flow state pretty easily when I dropped in: snapped it, grabbed, came around, saw the landing, stomped it. It all happened way too easily.

“I hope that doesn’t sound arrogant, but it’s just what happens in sports sometimes. Things just happen for you when, I guess, a lot of work accumulates to a certain moment. It felt like a lot of hard work paid off in that moment.”

It was a trick he’d pulled off only once before on snow - a year and a half ago, before he suffered the ACL injury that sidelined him for most of the pre-Olympic season. He’d not tried it since, and it was clear how much it meant to him to land it so cleanly: he pumped his fists, threw them in the air, then tossed away his snowboard in a mixture of disbelief and euphoria.

Guseli was the last rider to leave the mixed zone, receiving warm congratulations from all his rivals. Even Italian television wanted a piece of him.

His score of 91.50 for his third run was also the equal second-highest of the night, which suggests he is genuine shot at a medal if he can reproduce that magic. Not a bad effort considering his limited preparations.

The 20-year-old from Canberra has barely trained for big air since his injury, but had an inkling late on Wednesday that he could get the nod after three-time bronze medallist McMorris had what the Canadian team described as a “heavy crash” in training. He was due to attend a media commitment on Thursday afternoon before the official confirmation came that McMorris had pulled out to focus on slopestyle.

It remains to be seen if he’ll recover in time for that event; if he doesn’t, Guseli could sneak in there, too.

“I’d love to compete in that, too. But for now, I’m just going to try and make the very most that I can with what I’ve got,” he said.

“I’m really hoping for a good performance [in the final] … I’m going to do everything I can to put on a good show for everyone watching at home.”

On an Instagram post he uploaded just hours earlier on Thursday, Valentino and his father embraced, and Ric said: “Shred gods, be with us.”

“Shred Gods were with me tonight, bro,” Guseli said. “100 per cent.”

The Winter Olympic Games will be broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.

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