Laax, April 6, 2021. The snowboarding world has a new record to celebrate: on March 31, 2021, 15-year-old Australian Valentino Guseli jumped around 7.3 meters out of the superpipe in LAAX. This breaks the previous record of 7 meters set in 2010 by American and multiple Olympic champion Shaun White.
Valentino Guseli's potential for greatness was already evident at the LAAX OPEN 2021. In his very first World Cup contest in LAAX, the 15-year-old Australian caused the sensation of the day in the halfpipe qualification: he achieved the highest score in the first heat with 95 points, relegating top favorites such as two-time LAAX OPEN winner Scotty James to second place.
Guseli, who has been spending his winters in LAAX for the past five years and trains here, knows the superpipe—as it is called due to its dimensions—inside out. And what better venue for a world record attempt than the largest halfpipe in the world? "I had been thinking about breaking the world record for quite some time. I always wanted to go as high as possible. The day was perfect and the conditions were good, so I decided to just give it a try," says Valentino Guseli.
And so, on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, he dropped into the superpipe and surpassed the 7-meter mark after just a few attempts. But he wanted to raise the bar even higher and, after a few more attempts, finally improved to 7.3 meters. In doing so, he broke the record set by American snowboarding legend Shaun White. His record of 7 meters from 2010 remained unbroken for around 11 years.