Epic start for New Zealand and Australia snowboarders at Milano Cortina 2026
The start bodes well for the two nations who have a plethora of medal hopes in the days to come – including from the likes of Scotty James, Australia’s four-time world champion in snowboard halfpipe, and his compatriot and defending Olympic champion in moguls, Jakara Anthony.
For New Zealand, just some of those in line for gongs include Alpine skier Alice Robinson, a world silver medallist in giant slalom, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, a two-time Olympic medallist from Beijing 2022 including gold in snowboard slopestyle, and freeskier Luca Harrington, the world champion in big air.
“Grateful and super stoked,” said Jamieson who competed with kit inscribed with the names of two friends he’d lost. “Grateful to everybody at NZ watching, grateful to some close friends of mine watching down on me.
“I’ve got two friends who’ve passed away, so I have their names on my board and helmet and riding with me: Sammy Finnemore and Zak Baikie.
“It means so much to pay tribute to them, more than anyone can know,” the 19-year-old told reporters. “This was really their dream, and they rode with me and lived with me for many years. So being able to do this for them and with them is just amazing.
“I was doing some self-talking on the way in. Just do it for them and do it with them. I think it helped.”
Guseli, meanwhile, who only found out he would be competing three hours before the event and who made the final with an epic final run said: “The last 24 hours have been insane. Last night, right before I went to sleep, I found out that there was a chance that I would be competing tonight.
“(I have had) one day waiting to hear if I’m in or not. I went over to the mini park (to train) because I haven’t hit jumps in ages. I’ve just been riding half pipe. I worked on some tricks.
“The last run that I had was probably one of the most amazing moments of my life. I feel like at some point all of the work that you do has to pay off. It’s a good feeling.”
The final of the men’s Big Air will be from 18:30 local CET time, on Saturday 7 February with the quartet up against the impressive Japanese foursome of Ogiwara Hiroto, Kimura Kira, Hasegawa Taiga and Kimata, plus defending Olympic champion from People’s Republic of China Su Yiming, Francis Jobin (CAN), Oliver Martin (USA), and home favourite Ian Matteoli, who secured the highest one-run score of the night with a mighty 93.75.
The final is set to be epic.
