If you happen to like the odd flutter on major sporting events, betting against Australian snowboarder, Scotty James would just be a complete waste of money. At this year’s X Games at Aspen, the Audi ambassador again rose above the competition to claim his third Aspen gold medal in four years, and his tenth consecutive competition win internationally. 

Indeed, you’d have to go back as far as the 2018 Winter Olympics where James won Bronze, to find a competition that the Australian hasn’t completely dominated. But but Scotty James takes noting for granted and on top of his obvious natural talent, has a drive and work ethic that see him single-mindedly prepare for each event. 

“The feeling never gets old. Winning is such an amazing feeling. So much hard work goes into this,” James told the Aspen Times. “That feeling is unbelievable. To do it here at X Games is very, very special to me. X Games is a pinnacle for us. I dreamt of getting one X Games medal and I’ve added another one to my collection. So I’m absolutely pumped and just excited about the whole event.”

The X Games, Mens Superpipe is the premiere event on the winter sports calendar, and only the very top riders in the world are invited to compete. This year’s competition saw eight riders fight their way through to the finals which introduced a ‘jam’ style session to decide the winner. In the end it came down to James and Japanese snowboarder, Yuto Totsuka, but James’s captivating aerial display was too strong for Totsuka.

“Riding the halfpipe is getting more and more technical. It’s becoming more and more physically demanding. So when you get to stand on top of the podium, the feeling is still much the same as the first one,” said the ecstatic Australian.

But Scotty was also quick to credit his many fans after the win, including the kids from Challenge, an organisation that supports kids and families living with cancer. With their input, Scotty was wearing his new custom helmet, which includes self portraits drawn by the kids integrated into the Red Bull artwork.

“I’m excited to have the kids along for the ride with me,” James said, and it’s a very safe bet that there were plenty of smiling faces amongst those young Scotty James fans when the grinning Aussie did it again.