Snowboarder Scotty James has now tied retired snowboarder Shaun White for the most X Games gold medals after landing a never-before-landed trick on Saturday (Jan. 24).
As reported by ESPN via the Associated Press, the 31-year-old Australian snowboarder scored his eighth X Games gold medal, scoring his fifth straight title at the X Games. “I felt I wanted to do something for myself and for halfpipe and to push backside riding as much as I can," said Scott. “Tonight, I think it always was the plan. I wanted to come out and do the first back-to-back backside 14s, and I'm pumped."
He now shares the world record for most X Games gold medals with White, who retired four years ago. "I get a chip on my shoulder every year, thinking maybe I wouldn't be expected to show up and try again and win again," James said. "I managed to do that today, and I'm speechless, honestly." James has Olympic silver and bronze medals, and he’s hoping to finally pick up a gold at the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy next month.
“To be honest, the past two Olympics were for this one,” he said in a documentary about his career, per the Olympics website. “I’ve worked hard. I’ve dedicated myself to my craft, so why would I approach the Olympics with any other mindset than I would the X Games or the World Championships? The last few times, that’s what I’ve done, and I’ve come up short.”
While White has since retired from competitive sports, he’s set to serve as a commentator for NBC during the 2026 Winter Games. In a recent interview with People, he suggested that it would take a lot to get him back into snowboarding competitively.
“It would take some weird breakthrough, of like, me seeing something and getting really inspired, because you got to push everything aside and just make this thing your life's focus... and there's so much going on in my world,” he said. “I'm just so thrilled to focus on other things than what I've focused on since I was like, 7, to I guess pro at 13. Yeah, I don't know, it would take a lot.”