Australian Scotty James blasts Winter Olympics judges for scoring Shaun White higher

AUSSIE snowboarder Scotty James has slammed judges for inconsistent marking after failing to make the halfpipe semis.

YOUNG Aussie snowboarder Scotty James has unloaded on Winter Olympic judges for inconsistent marking as he failed to qualify for the snowboard half-pipe semi finals at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, high above Sochi.

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James appeared to put in a clean performance on the first of his two heat runs, but received a meagre score of 68.5 for a clean run which included a difficult aerial manoeuvre known as a double cork.

He did his best to appear calm, but was clearly fuming at scoring lower marks for his clean run than American snowboarding superstar Shaun White did for a run which he crashed.

James made a confused face for the cameras when the scores came through. His bemusement turned to anger soon afterwards as he narrowly missed out on one of nine qualifying spots from the field of 20.

Australian Scotty James competes in the Snowboard Men's Halfpipe Qualification Heats on day four of the Sochi 2014 Winter Oly...

“It’s really unfortunate,” the 19-year-old from the Melbourne suburb of Warrandyte said.

James attributed his low marks to the fact that he was the first competitor down the pipe.

“When you drop first, they score you low to give room to a lot of people and they gave me a 68 which was not too good,” he said.

“I guess that’s just what happens when you come down first. I kind of knew that was coming,”

But James’s anger at the judges went beyond his disappointment at being marked low for going first.

Scotty James of Australia at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.

Shaun White led the field after his first run, qualifying comfortably for the final in the format which scores only the best of two runs.

But White bombed out on his second run and finished it off half-heartedly. Despite that, he still amassed 72 points for that run, four points more than Scotty James’s clean run.

That didn’t exactly seem fair.

“The one thing that really, really frustrated me with that was Shaun White didn’t even finish his run but he beat me,” James said.

“So I guess that’s just absolutely gobsmacked me. I’m leaving this event and I’m just kind of gonna go ‘it could have gone better’.”

Scotty James came to these, his second Olympics, with high hopes and was devastated he couldn’t convert his excellent pre-Games form into Olympic success.

He finished 16th in the slopestyle and 21st in the half-pipe.

“It’s just a bit disappointing because a lot of work’s gone into it,” he said.

“That’s the first time that’s happened to me in a while, not to make it through to semis, let alone the final, so I guess I don’t know how to feel right now.

“I’m not happy, I’m not angry, I’m not sad, I’m just very blunt, just a bit shocked.”

James said he’d been suffering a stomach complain all week which had caused him to visit the doctor twice.

“It’s just a bit devastating when you work for something so hard and it doesn’t go your way but I guess that’s just how it is.”

The news was better for James’s compatriots Kent Callister and Nate Johnstone, who sailed through to the semis in 7th and 8th spots respectively.