Scotty James Earns Near-Perfect 99.00 Score In Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe Final At U.S. Grand Prix

The snowboard halfpipe season officially kicked off with the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, with competitions running December 16 and 17. And Australia’s Scotty James was off to the races, proving that he hasn’t missed a step since winning silver in the Beijing Olympics in February.

On Friday, James earned a near-perfect 99.00 score on his second run in the men’s final—the second-highest in the history of International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) events. The highest, a 100, was awarded to Shaun White at the 2018 Aspen Snowmass World Cup.

It was also the highest score James has ever earned in a halfpipe contest run.

James’ run was technical and flawless, starting with switch McTwist Japan with massive amplitude that caused audible gasps from the crowd, into a cab 1440 stalefish, frontside 1080 tail grab, cab 900 indy, and ending with a switch backside double cork 1260 indy.

Though his run included just one 14, James knows exactly what judges are looking for in difficulty and execution, beyond simply degrees of rotation. The Aussie spun all four directions—frontside, backside, cab (switch frontside) and switch backside—and changed up his grabs.

Indeed, in a post-competition interview, James revealed that when he was putting together this run, he wanted to add the “soul” back into it—which, as any snowboarder will tell you, has more to do with style and flow than with spins and flips.

“The progression is so rapid these days, and I’m really happy to be a part of that, but I wanted to make some new additions with some creativity and, as we say as snowboarders, get the soul back,” James said per an FIS release. “So I felt that in the first hit [with the switch McTwist], and then after that I was able to just have good momentum, and I’m absolutely thrilled.”

At February’s Olympics, James earned silver with a heavy second run that included a switch backside 1260 Weddle grab, cab double 1440 melon, frontside 900 tailgrab, backside 1260 Weddle ending with a frontside double 1440 tailgrab.

Switzerland’s Jan Scherrer took second place in the U.S. Grand Prix men’s halfpipe final and Kaishu Hirano earned the first World Cup podium of his career.

From January 18-22, the halfpipe and slopestyle riders will continue their competitive season when they travel to Switzerland for the Laax Open. Winter X Games (which is not a World Cup event) will return to Aspen the following week.

Per a new agreement between U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Outside Interactive for the 2022-23 season, all U.S. FIS World Cup alpine, cross country, freestyle, snowboard and freeski events will be available to stream on all Outside platforms, including OutsideOnline.com, SkiMag.com, the Outside App and Outside Watch.