Italy hopeful of history too
Italy, New Zealand and Australia are also seeking their first medal at this event.
Like Japan, New Zealand also put their full slate of riders through to the final, with Lyon Farrell, Rocco Jamieson and Dane Menzies (NZL) all rising to the occasion.
However, the story of Thursday might have gone to Australia’s Valentino Guseli (AUS).
The 20-year-old was a late replacement for the injured Mark McMorris (CAN), who crashed in Wednesday’s training but only withdrew from Thursday’s qualification some three-and-a-half hours before the start of competition, opening the spot for Guseli. While the rest of the field had three days of training on the Livigno Snow Park Big Air jump, Guseli had but eight runs in the one-hour training block ahead of qualification.
And yet, those eight runs would prove to be enough for the young Australian, who claimed the last final spot with 163.00 points on the strength of a final run, 91.50-scoring switch backside 1980 tail grab, a trick he had never stomped on snow before.
Guseli plans to continue his fairy-tale run.
“No matter how hopeless your life can feel at a certain point, you might be right about to have the most amazing thing ever happen to you,” he said. “So keep going and you never know when the hard work is going to pay off. It might just be at the most important time.”
The Men’s Snowboard Big Air final starts at 19:30 (local time in Livigno).
