Valentino Guseli's Miracle Run Secures Winter Olympics Big Air Final Spot
The Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics witnessed a stunning sporting miracle as Australian snowboarder Valentino Guseli transformed a last-minute opportunity into a dramatic finals qualification in the men's big air competition. The 20-year-old athlete, who wasn't originally scheduled to compete in the event at Livigno Snow Park, delivered a performance that will be remembered in Australian winter sports history.
Unexpected Opportunity
Guseli had only qualified for the halfpipe event and appeared destined to watch the big air contest from the sidelines. However, a training crash involving Canadian rider Mark McMorris created an unexpected opening that Guseli seized with both hands. The young Australian discovered the night before that there was a chance he might compete, and by Thursday evening, he found himself standing atop the start ramp with everything on the line.
'I was hoping that I'd be riding tonight,' Guseli revealed. 'I found out last night that there was a chance I was going to get in, and unfortunately Mark had a bit of a spill and wasn't able to compete tonight. I found out that I was getting a spot and then I just wanted to take that spot and go as far as possible with it.'
Clutch Performance Under Pressure
His first two qualification runs scored 73.25 and 71.50 respectively, solid performances that nevertheless left him outside the top twelve positions needed to progress. Everything came down to one final attempt, with Guseli needing to deliver something extraordinary to secure his place in the finals.
What followed was nothing short of spectacular. Launching off the jump, Guseli executed a switch backside 1980 tailgrab with remarkable precision and amplitude, completing five-and-a-half rotations before landing cleanly. The scoreboard flashed 91.50, the joint-second highest score of the entire night.
The moment of triumph saw Guseli fling his arms skyward and hurl his snowboard into the crisp Italian air in disbelief, before teammates hoisted him onto their shoulders as confirmation arrived that he had finished twelfth and secured the final qualifying spot. One commentator perfectly captured the moment, calling it a 'miracle in Milano.'
Flow State and Olympic Magic
Guseli later described experiencing a surreal calm during his decisive run. 'I reached a state that I haven't been in in quite a while, called 'flow state', and I could see it all just happened for me,' he explained. 'And sometimes that just happens, you know, you drop in, and then it's like you didn't even have to try. And the trick just works. I got to the bottom and I, like, snapped back into reality and realised… it was pretty crazy.'
The Canberra-born athlete, who finished sixth in the halfpipe at Beijing 2022 as a 16-year-old, has endured a challenging journey back to this Olympic stage. After winning the overall FIS Park and Pipe Crystal Globe in both 2023 and 2024, a torn ACL late in 2024 sidelined him for nearly a year and cost him early qualification opportunities in big air and slopestyle events.
Limited Preparation and Strategic Decision
Remarkably, Guseli admitted he had barely had time to rehearse on the Olympic jump before his qualification performance. 'By the time I did my last jump, I'd only hit this jump 10 times,' he revealed. 'Usually you've hit it like maybe 50 or 60 times by the time you compete on it. So to have made finals now is just … I'm so stoked about it. Definitely one of the top moments of my life.'
There was even an internal debate before that decisive third run. His father, who also serves as his coach, suggested he might need to attempt an even bigger trick to secure the necessary score. For a split second, Guseli hesitated. 'I thought, 'I'm not going to go and try something like a Hail Mary that I could get destroyed on,'' he admitted. 'And then I thought, 'It's the Olympics, man'.'
Looking Ahead to the Finals
Now through to Saturday's big air final, Guseli has already rewritten the script of his Games. He will also line up in the halfpipe competition, where he looms as a genuine medal chance alongside fellow Australian Scotty James. For the Aussie rider with Italian heritage competing in the land of his father's family, the stage could hardly be more fitting.
'Out of all the Olympics that I'll do in my lifetime, this is the one that I want to do the best in,' he previously stated. 'Because it's the closest thing to a home Olympics I'll ever have.' From ACL setback to Olympic finalist, Guseli's Milano moment has capped a stunning comeback story that continues to unfold at these Winter Games.
