It's been four years in the making, but Australia's halfpipe king Scotty James believes he's built the arsenal capable of taking down an "army" of Japanese snowboard rivals at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
Reigning Olympic champion Ayumu Hirano is under an injury cloud, with his trainer saying he broke his pelvis and nose in a heavy fall in Switzerland last month, although the three-time medallist has declared he will be out in Livigno to defend his crown.
It's not just Hirano that James has to overcome to win his first Winter Olympics gold. Five Japanese riders are ranked in the world's top 10, with Yuto Totsuka currently ranked No.1.
When halfpipe qualifying gets under way on Wednesday (Thursday morning AEDT), James will also face a strong challenge from his Australian teammate Valentino Guseli, with the young gun flying high - literally, after his big air Olympic performance.
"I think Valentino's an incredibly talented snowboarder and I always say, most importantly, he's actually just a really good kid," James said of the 20-year-old.
"He's obviously a fierce competitor and I respect him a lot.
"I think Australians, naturally, we want to pull each other down a peg, that's in our nature ... but for me, I'm not doing that.
"Every time he does well, I send him a text and say, 'Amazing, well done'.
"But obviously, cutting through the BS, he and I know that we have to try and beat each other, but we're going to have to beat the whole army of the Japanese and Americans and everyone else as well."
James, 31, was pipped for the gold medal in Beijing when Hirano landed the first-ever triple cork 1440 in Olympic halfpipe competition to clinch victory.
Recognising that replicating that trick wouldn't be enough to topple his rivals, James set about raising the benchmark in backside riding, which basically involves starting the spin with your back facing down the hill.
Competitors have described it as being like a right-handed baseball pitcher trying to throw left-handed.
James upped the ante at the recent X-Games when he became the first rider to land consecutive backside 1440-degree jumps - one riding forward, the other backwards - and said it had been a challenge to perfect.
"The preparation before doing the trick to snow is many sleepless nights, a few changes of underwear, many different things," he said.
"Thinking about the backside tricks, I've been trying to ideate those and put them into reality for at least four years, trying to think about how I would actually do the spin in the middle of the trick - what axis was I going to do it on? Was I just going to do a normal backside 1260 and add a 180? So there's a lot of different variations you can do with a trick.
"But the way that I'm doing it, I would say it's a bit more full commitment from the start - once you're in it, there's no backing out."
James also has to count on the Olympic judges rewarding him for his technical riding, with amplitude, difficulty, variety and execution some of the criteria.
In Beijing the two-time medallist felt his approach wasn't fully credited.
"I think they've come on the journey with me a bit - we're in a subjective sport, so I can't control what judges think is hard and technical and difficult," the Victorian product said.
"You know, most of them share the same passion in snowboarding as I do, and they understand what's hard in the halfpipe, and I don't think I have to sit there and keep on preaching that.
"It's obviously nice when you get affirmation in being able to win two big events before this.
"Hopefully they perceive what's difficult the same way I do, but that's never a sure thing."
"I can just focus on my riding and see how we go."
