Australian snowboarder Valentino Guseli has taken back-to-back FIS World Cup Crystal Globes with a bronze in the Silvaplana FIS World Cup Slopestyle overnight.
Guseli came into into competition in Silvaplana in second place on the overall leaderboard behind Roma Kimata in men’s Park & Pipe rankings. When Kimata failed to make it through to finals Guseli knew a strong performance on Saturday would put the big trophy in his hand for the second straight season. With his podium on Saturday he managed just that.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Guseli said with his second career overall crystal globe in hand.
“This morning my dad texted me a photo of two of the globes that I already have out on the balcony with the sea in the background at home, and he said ‘They’re waiting for another one.’ So that was the goal of the day, to get this.
“Before I dropped for my second run I was pretty sure that I had done enough to win the globe already, but also I wanted to win the comp. So I went out and I put down my best run. I didn’t win the comp, but that got me on the podium, which I’m happy with and it made the globe a certainty.”
Guseli won his first FIS World Cup gold in halfpipe at the Calgary event this season, this combined with silver in halfpipe at LAAX and bronze in Silvaplana were enough to secure him his third Crystal Globe (having won Big Air Crystal Globe and overall Crystal Globe last season).
