Australia has once again underlined its growing reputation on the winter sport scene, winning three medals on day one of the X-Games in Aspen, Colorado.

Scotty James underlined his personal dominance on the SuperPipe, earning a fifth career gold and an eighth medal overall in the event.

James has medalled in the SuperPipe at every X-Games since 2016, and topped the podium for a second-successive season.

In an impressive double for Australia, 17-year-old snowboarding sensation Valentino Guseli claimed bronze.

“Wow, that just happened … no words,” James told his 311,000 followers on Instagram just after he was announced as winner.

“I’m kinda speechless, I don’t have many words.

“It was a crazy, challenging night with the weather. I had to make some adjustments and figure it out, but it worked out in the end.”

James’s second successive victory in the event saw him defeat Olympic champion Ayumu Hirano, who finished in sixth spot in Aspen.

Multi-discipline rider Guseli earned his first X-Games medal on the SuperPipe, having already claimed a World Cup victory this season in Big Air, while making the final in Slopestyle in Laax last week.

Guseli finished in sixth on the halfpipe in Beijing last year.

Earlier in the day, Tess Coady became the first Australian woman to win an X-Games medal in snowboard slopestyle, finishing second behind New Zealand’s Olympic champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott.

Sadowski-Synnott — the Olympic gold medallist in slopestyle and silver medallist in big air from Beijing — pipped Coady for top spot on the final run of the day.