02/13/26 02:19:00
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02/13 14:17 CST Japanese snowboarder Yuto Totsuka wins Olympic gold in halfpipe
ahead of Scotty James
Japanese snowboarder Yuto Totsuka wins Olympic gold in halfpipe ahead of Scotty
James
By JOSEPH WILSON
Associated Press
LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) --- Japanese snowboarder Yuto Totsuka won the Olympic gold
medal in men's halfpipe at the Milan Cortina Games on Friday and Scotty James
of Australia repeated as the silver medalist.
Totsuka laid down a massive second run featuring back-to-back jumps with three
head-over-heels flips each. That effort earned him 95 points.
James had the last run of the final after he topped qualifying on Wednesday.
But the Australian fell near the end of his run, failing to improve on his
second-run score of 93.50.
The 31-year-old Australian collected his third medal after winning silver at
the 2022 Beijing Olympics and bronze four years earlier at the Pyeongchang
Games.
Ryusei Yamada of Japan took bronze on Friday.
The 24-year-old Totsuka, competing at the Olympics for the third time, is
currently leading the World Cup halfpipe standings.
These were medals No. 5 and 6 for Japanese snowboarders at the Milan Cortina
Games. Three of those have been gold.
Kira Kimura and Ryomo Kimata took gold and silver in men's big air. Kokomo
Murase won gold in women's big air, while Mitsuki Ono took bronze in women's
halfpipe.
On Friday, Ruka Hirano finished fourth, while the defending halfpipe champion
Ayumu Hirano finished seventh. The 2022 champion was competing while not fully
recovered from a bad fall last month that injured his face and pelvis.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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