Yuto Totsuka soars to gold in spectacular Men’s Halfpipe final

Feb 13, 2026·Snowboard Park & Pipe

Men's Snowboard podium. From L to R Scotty JAMES (AUS) Silver - Yuto TOTSUKA (JPN) Gold - Ryusei YAMADA (JPN) Bronze - ©Christian StadlerAction Press

Japan’s Yuto Totsuka delivered the performance of a lifetime to claim the Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe title, as Scotty James’ dreams of gold slipped through his fingers at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno on Friday night.

It was a night filled with competition-first tricks and combinations, from Chaeun Lee’s (KOR) switch frontside triple cork 1620 to Ayumu Hirano’s (JPN) frontside double cork 1620 double tail grab, with even those tricks in landed runs not making it onto the podium.

Totsuka’s winning came on his second attempt, where he led off with a massive switch frontside triple cork 1440 drunk driver, into an equally large frontside triple cork 1440 truck driver, and then a switch backside double alley-oop rodeo 900 stalefish, to a switch backside double cork 1440 Japan, and finally capped it all off with a backside double cork 1260 mute, for a score of 95.00pts.

Gold

With none of the other 11 riders on hand able to best that score through run three, including Totsuka himself, only James could shake up the podium with the final drop of the night as the top qualifier.

Through the first four hits of run three James matched his tricks from his 93.50-scoring run two - switch frontside triple cork 1440 mute, frontside double cork 1260 stalefish, backside double cork 1080 stalefish, and switch backside double cork 1440 Japan - before attempting to up the ante on his fifth and final hit by going for a backside double cork 1620 Japan.

Unfortunately, it was not to be, as the Australian went down on his final hit to fall just short in his bid to complete his Olympic medal collection, taking silver for the second straight Olympic Winter Games.

Bronze

Ryusei Yamada (JPN) made it a Japanese 1-3 as he clinched bronze with 92.00pts, which he earned for both his first and third runs, despite a different set of wildly creative tricks in each run.

Run three was probably the best, as the 92.00 came even though Yamada had a hand touch in the middle. Leading off with a switch frontside double cork 1440 nose grab, he then went switch frontside alley-oop double rodeo 1080 frontside grab, backside double cork 1080 Japan, switch mctwist Japan, and finally switch backside double alley-oop rodeo 900 stalefish.

Totsuka came into Milano 2026 on the back of a superb World Cup campaign that sees him leading the standings after topping the podium at Aspen. The three-time Olympian put his soaring success down to creativity.

I had to bring out my originality in all the different tricks that I did. Doing a trick that no one else did was one of the things that determined it. I also think it's because of the amplitude that I was able to do so well. – Yuto Totsuka (JPN)

Silver

For James it was a case of so near and yet so far once more. He was second behind Hirano at Beijing 2022, four years after bronze at PyeongChang 2018.

The five-time Olympian showcased his run at the final stop of the World Cup tour in Laax before the Olympic Winter Games.

Reflecting on his performance, the four-time World Champion felt that his final run would have been the one to win gold if he’d landed his back 1620.

I was a man on a mission for sure. It was such a crazy final to be a part of. I obviously had an intention to put a bit of a better run together, but it became unstuck. But that's competition. I was really happy to be a part of it. Yuto worked so hard. I always see him there at training. I was anticipating such a good battle with him, and he came out on top. So, congrats to him. – Scotty James (AUS)

Yamada arrived in Livigno third in the World Cup standings and described his Olympic debut as the fulfilment of his dreams.

What I've been thinking about constantly in my head since the Olympics four years ago is that I wanted to compete in the next Olympics and do this run. I've been thinking about that the whole time. And for these past four years I think I've been training and aiming for this run. – Ryusei Yamada (JPN)