Valentino Guseli, once considered an underdog at the Olympics, has unexpectedly qualified for the men’s snowboard big air final after a stunning final run in the qualification event.
The 20-year-old Australian was only added to the team a few hours before the event, after Canadian star Mark McMorris withdrew following a heavy fall during training.
He was then taken to the hospital to ensure he was alright. Having already competed in the halfpipe event, he struggled to get much warm-up time and only managed a few runs before the lights came on at the snow park.
He didn’t have a spectacular start, but a solid one, scoring 73.25 and 71.50 on his first two attempts, both based on four-and-a-half rotations.
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Sitting outside the top 12 and seemingly out of contention, Guseli needed a special performance on his final attempt to secure a spot in the final.
Instead, he delivered his biggest moment yet on the Olympic stage, scoring 91.50 for a switch backside 1980 tail grab, one of the highest scores of the session.
This boost propelled him into 12th and final place for Saturday night’s final, edging out Norway’s Marcus Kleveland by a single point on the combined score of his two best runs.
McMorris, a three-time Olympic medalist and one of the pre-event favorites, is expected to recover in time to compete in the slopestyle event later this week.
This last-minute change for Australia has opened up an opportunity to win another medal on the sport’s biggest stage, and now Guseli is heading into two events with momentum as the Milano Cortina campaign gets underway.
