Australian Scotty James wins halfpipe World Cup event

Australian snowboard star Scotty James has produced one of the best runs of his impressive career to claim the halfpipe gold medal at the Laax Open in Switzerland.

It was James' 10th World Cup title and the fourth time he had emerged triumphant at the prestigious Swiss event.

The two-time Olympic medallist opened with a score of 88.75 points in the best-of-two-run night final, and topped that with a spectacular effort in his second run, which included a switch frontside triple cork 1440 and a huge score of 95.75.

That was good enough to secure the gold medal ahead of Japanese duo Ruka Hirano's (93.75) and reigning Olympic champ Ayumu Hirano (87.00).

"It might be one of the best moments of my competitive career," said the 30-year-old James.

"It's always challenging to win, but this year I feel like I have been put on the ropes quite a bit from the other competitors, especially the Japanese, they are riding incredible.

"Not for a second did I think it was a done deal until the last rider went because any rider could have won.

"It's always been a super-important detail for me to spin in every direction, and try and keep a bit of soul in there with the switch McTwist at the start before it gets into a lot of spinning."

The victory moves James into equal first place on the World Cup standings alongside Yuto Totsuka of Japan on 230 points.

Two-time Olympic gold medallist Chloe Kim beat fellow American Maddie Mastro and South Korean Mastro in the women's halfpipe competition in Laax.

James will now head to the famed US resort of Aspen for the X-Games, which begin on January 23.

The Victorian will be aiming to win a  fourth straight X-Games gold medal.