Scotty James on X Games, Olympics, Proposing to His Fiance – WWD

Making history is old news for Scotty James, 27-year-old ski sensation from Melbourne. When he competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver at the age of 15, he was the youngest Winter Olympic athlete in more than 50 years and the youngest Australian ever to compete at the Winter Olympics. Since then, he’s become a three-time world champion, winning one Olympic bronze medal and six X Games medals, and is competing at the 2022 X Games in Aspen, Colo., before he travels to Beijing to compete at the XXIV Games.

It’s not immediately obvious that you’re talking to someone with such a track record when on the phone with James; He was humble, sweet, and somewhat reserved, politely calling on his second day in Aspen, just before the competition started.

“The weather was nice and I was looking out over the mountains so no complaints on my part,” he said.

“My emotional state? Well, it’s usually game week, so naturally I’m always nervous. Otherwise, I would be worried,” he added. “I’m a little nervous. I’m excited. I’m really looking forward to being in the semi-pipeline. And you know, this week is always pretty special. For us athletes, it’s been one of those events. really great event, where there’s a lot of really cool atmosphere, a lot of people. It’s just a really good show to be a part of.”

Leading up to the half-way into the stethoscope, James will make sure all of his music is ready to go as he listens during competition. Recently, he has been on the TV shows “Nashville” and “Yellowstone,” which brought him back to the countryside. Other times, it’s R&B.

“It really depends on my mood, if I’m being honest, whether I need energy or if I need to calm down a bit,” he said.

James, who is based in Monaco these days, is also known for his choice of gloves, which gained attention at the 2018 Olympics because of their resemblance to boxing gloves. In fact, he competed with real red boxing gloves at the 2017 X Olympics, but for the Olympics, where that wasn’t allowed, he had gloves that looked like identical.

“It was probably the most notorious ritual for myself,” he said of the glove. “Once I got those, I was ready to go to the finals.”

James grew up in Melbourne and got his first taste of snow when his father returned from a trip to Canada and brought him a snowboard that, according to legend, cost just $10.

“It was a stop at a ski shop,” says James. “So it’s not really something that people are using. He bought it for $10 and then he brought it home to me. I was about three years old then.”

His family is a mountain freak, and they’ve traveled to Canada, the US, and Switzerland, which is how he started.

“I don’t think there was a moment where I thought, ‘This is exactly what I want to do.’ I think I was just naturally drawn to it. And there are certain factors and even the results of competing when I was young in the international arena that made me naturally feel like I belonged in snowboarding,” he said. “I’m sure my parents would say otherwise, I’m sure when I was very young they might have seen something that I hadn’t. But since I was about 12 years old, we decided this was what I wanted to pursue and I wanted to be a professional skier. And here we are. ”

Outside of the sport, he has recently developed an interest in aviation, pursuing his pilot’s license.

“Obviously I’ve spent a lot of time on planes and it’s always intrigued me, so I wanted to learn more about it,” he said. Another concern? “I recently invested a few more. I love crypto, obviously the new digital space, venture capital and investments and things like that. I think it’s a pretty cool industry.”

Next month he will again put on the Australian shirt and compete in the Olympics, a rare moment when individual sports like skiing become part of something much bigger. , he say.

“When you go to Olympic Games and competition, you’re obviously doing it for yourself, but you also take extra pride in doing it for your country, so that’s always a special element to go with it,” he said. speak. “The whole atmosphere when playing big games is always a special atmosphere.”

In November, James proposed to his fiancée Chloe Stroll, daughter of Aston Martin F1 executive chairman Lawrence Stroll. Despite having experience competing in the international arena at the highest level, nothing could help him mentally prepare for the proposal.

“We got engaged in Switzerland, and it was exciting. I would say it was a more intense experience, a different kind of experience than I had when snowboarding in a competition,” he said. “It was a pretty special day.”

They are planning to start looking at wedding venues in Italy this year, for the wedding date in 2023 – between competitions, of course.

“She checks on me all the time – there have been a few times when I accidentally introduced her as my girlfriend and she just stared at me,” he said. “So I’m learning to say fiancée now, to forward.”