Valentino Guseli has produced a miracle at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics after turning a last-minute lifeline into a jaw-dropping finals berth in the men’s snowboard big air.
The 20-year-old Australian was not even meant to be in the field at Livigno Snow Park. He had only qualified for the halfpipe and appeared set to watch the big air contest from the sidelines.
Instead, a training crash to Canada’s Mark McMorris opened the door and Guseli charged straight through it.
He found out the night before there was a chance he might compete. By Thursday evening, he was standing atop the start ramp with everything on the line.
‘I was hoping that I’d be riding tonight,’ Guseli said.
‘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.
Valentino Guseli stunned the Winter Olympics after securing a finals berth with a last-run 91.50
The 20-year-old Aussie turned a shock late call-up into a miracle qualification in Milano
Guseli’s switch backside 1980 delivered the joint-second highest score of the night
‘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.’
His first two qualification runs, 73.25 and 71.50, were solid but left him outside the top 12 needed to progress. It all came down to one final attempt.
What followed will live long in Australian winter sports history.
Launching off the jump, Guseli threw down a switch backside 1980 tailgrab, five-and-a-half rotations executed with precision and amplitude, before stomping the landing clean.
The scoreboard flashed 91.50 – the joint-second highest score of the night.
As he rode away, Guseli flung his arms skyward and hurled his snowboard into the crisp Italian air in disbelief before teammates hoisted him onto their shoulders as confirmation came through that he had finished 12th and secured the final spot.
One commentator summed it up perfectly, a ‘miracle in Milano’.
Guseli later described the surreal calm that washed over him mid-run.
A third-run gamble propelled the Australian into 12th place and the final qualifying spot
Guseli advanced after finding out only hours earlier he would compete in big air
From ACL setback to Olympic finalist, Guseli’s Milano moment capped a stunning comeback
‘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 said.
‘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 product, who finished sixth in the halfpipe at Beijing 2022 as a 16-year-old, has endured a turbulent road back to this stage.
After winning the overall FIS Park and Pipe Crystal Globe in 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.
He admitted he had barely had time to rehearse on the Olympic jump.
‘By the time I did my last jump, I’d only hit this jump 10 times,’ he said. ‘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.’
The young Australian capped a dramatic qualifier with a clutch five-and-a-half spin effort
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 get the 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’.’
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, 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 said. ‘Because it’s the closest thing to a home Olympics I’ll ever have.’
