Snowboard great Scotty James says he will be back for a sixth Olympics after his high-risk bid for an elusive gold medal failed at the Milan-Cortina Games.
James was looking to complete his medal collection but was left in tears after he finished with silver for the second straight Olympics.
With three medals to his name, he became Australia's most decorated Winter Olympian and he was also part of the country's most successful single day - his second place coming after Josie Baff clinched gold in the snowboard cross earlier in Livigno.
But it was mostly disappointment with James shedding tears and being comforted by Australia's canoe great Jessica Fox when she presented his medal.
He then broke down in the press conference when asked what was his "why".
Leading into the Olympics he had openly declared gold was his "north star".
"My ‘why’ ‘would be I want to leave my footprint on the sport and the industry - that will be something I strive for every single day and what I get up for," the 31-year-old said.
"The next 24 hours I'll probably have a bit of a cry, but I'll be happy as well because representing the country and winning a medal is unbelievable, and I'm really proud of that.
"I can go to bed at night knowing I didn't win because of me. I can chin that, and it was mine to win there at the end and I couldn't win the run - it is what it is."
That drive for a statement victory brought James undone.
The last rider into the halfpipe, he needed to improve on his second run score of 93.50 after scoring 48.75 on the first run despite a fall.
He had already locked in the silver medal with the second trip down the pipe that included a switch backside 1440 directly into a backside 1440 combination - the only rider ever to complete the sequence.
But instead of trying to better execute that run, he attempted a new trick - a backside double-cork 1620 - for the first time in competition and fell again.
That handed the gold medal to Japan's world No.1 Yuto Totsuka, who scored a whopping 95.00 on his second run while his countryman Ryusei Yamada bagged bronze with 92.00.
James had no regrets despite the gold going begging.
"Potentially I could have done it with a 14, but for myself, I had to do the 16," the Victorian said.
"I wanted to push it and that's what I was here to do regardless of the result."
James said he intended hanging around "like a bad smell" until the next Olympics in France in 2030.
"I’m going to be that bad smell for four years - I hate losing, this has motivated me now," he said.
"I look forward to many more battles in the halfpipe against the guys I was competing against tonight."
Australia's other competitor in the Livigno final, Valentino Guseli, also crashed twice but showed his immense talent on his last run, scoring 88.00 to finish fifth.
It improved his position in the final one spot from Beijing with the 20-year-old recovering from a ruptured ACL in December 2024 to compete in Italy.
"Well, on the first two runs I sucked, but I landed my last one and I got one place better than I did in the last Olympics, so we're going up, which is cool," Guseli said.
"I wanted to land that run that I did last perfectly on my first run and then keep upping it and I had some ideas of how I was going to do that.
"It didn't end up happening, and yeah, that's life."
