Scotty James

Fast Facts

Sport: Snowboard
Event: Halfpipe
Olympic History: Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 (bronze), Beijing 2022 (silver), Milano Cortina 2026 (silver)
Highlights: Four-time World Halfpipe Champion, Silver at Beijing 2022
Year Born: 1994

About Scotty

Snowboard sensation and four-time World Champion Scotty James became the most decorated Australian Winter Olympian of all time when he won his third Olympic medal at Milano Cortina 2026. The five-time Olympian won snowboard halfpipe silver on the Italian slopes, adding to his silver from Beijing 2022 and bronze from PyeongChang 2018. This made him the first Winter Olympian to win three medals. 

At Vancouver 2010, he was the youngest male from any nation, and in 2018 he was the Opening Ceremony Flag Bearer. Milano Cortina was an extra special Games for Scotty, as it was his first Olympic Games with his son Leo in the crown, after becoming a dad in 2024. 

Australian snowboarding is deeply entwined with Scotty James. Raised in Warrandyte, Victoria, his first board was a $10 shop display his dad found in Vancouver, small enough that the ten-year-old could ride it. By 14 he was racing Europa Cups, and a late call-up to Vancouver 2010 made him the youngest male Winter Olympian from any nation in half a century. He finished 21st in the halfpipe on debut, then returned at Sochi 2014 to place 16th in slopestyle and 21st in the halfpipe. 

As he shifted his focus squarely to riding the pipe, that momentum quickly turned into results. In 2013–14, he won his first World Cup medal and, then remarkably, went on to win the season’s overall halfpipe title, securing the International Ski Federation’s crystal globe and signaling that an Australian was ready to reshape the event. In 2015, he became world champion in Kreischberg, and two years later, he defended the crown in Sierra Nevada. By January 2017, he had also earned a breakthrough X Games superpipe gold, beating many of the sport’s biggest names. 

PyeongChang 2018 made Scotty a household name at home. Australia’s Opening Ceremony Flag Bearer, he delivered his first Olympic medal, bronze, scoring 92.00 in a final for the ages. The next northern winter brought a near‑mythic run: six starts, six wins; Dew Tour, X Games, US Grand Prix, Laax Open, Burton US Open and the world championships. This completed an unprecedented hat‑trick of back‑to‑back‑to‑back world titles in 2015, 2017 and 2019. 

The podiums kept coming. Across 2019–20 and 2020–21 Scotty stood on every podium he contested, including world championship silver in 2021 behind Japan’s Yuto Totsuka. Eighteen days before Beijing 2022 he tuned up with X Games gold, then produced a sublime 92.50 in the Olympic final to take silver behind Ayumu Hirano, adding a second Olympic medal to his collection.

The 2022–23 campaign began with a near‑perfect World Cup win at Copper Mountain, highlighted by a 99.00‑point run, and another X Games title in Aspen. In 2023, he placed fifth at the World Championships in Bakuriani, but the standard he was setting was clear for all to see. 

He opened the 2023–24 in the best possible way, taking home a gold medal in the opening snowboard halfpipe World Cup in Secret Garden, China. He then led a historic Australian one‑two with Valentino Guseli under lights in Laax, where Scotty’s 94.00 secured a third Laax title - days later, he completed a three‑peat of X Games halfpipe crowns, his sixth X Games gold. 

In 2025, Scotty raised the bar again. He won a fourth Laax Open title in mid‑January with a flawless final highlighted by a cab triple cork and switch backside 1260, then made history a week later with a fourth straight X Games Aspen gold, his seventh X Games title, to become the first man to win four in a row. His season’s defining moment arrived in late March at the World Championships in Engadin–St. Moritz, where he mastered blizzard conditions to land 95.00 and secure a record fourth world title in the halfpipe. Now the most successful rider in world championship history for the discipline. 

On the eve of Milano Cortina 2026, Scotty showed his competitors and fans that he has the tricks and form to challenge for that elusive Olympic gold. In the last World Cup before the Games, he won the Laax Open in Switzerland with a spectacular second run, scoring 98.75. He then finished his competition preparation gold in the X Games superpipe. It was his fifth consecutive X Games gold and eighth in total. The victory draws him level with American legend Shaun White for the most X Games snowboard golds. Scotty now has more all time superpipe podiums than Shaun. His commanding winning run featured a switch backside 1440 into a backside 1440, the first time such a combination has ever been performed in competition.

At his fifth Game’s, Scotty qualified first for the halfpipe final with a huge opening qualification run of 94.00. In the 12-rider final, his second run started with a near-perfect cab 1440 triple cork and finished with an impressive backside 1440 to score 93.50 and secure him the silver medal, behind Japan’s Totsuka Yuto with a top score of 95.00.

Away from competition, Scotty’s roots remain Victorian, he is a Victorian Institute of Sport alumnus, and he has built a home base in Monaco. He married in 2023 and became a father in 2024, a perspective he has said only deepened his love of riding.  

Looking to 2030 James has another record in sight- Colin Coates (speed skating) is the only Australian to compete at six Winter Olympics. Aerial skiing legends Jacqui Cooper and Lydia Lassila are also five-time Olympians.