Scotty James claims 'amazing' third halfpipe world championships gold medal

Australian snowboarding ace Scotty James has taken out an unprecedented third consecutive halfpipe world title in Utah.

A year to the day since James led the Australian team into the PyeongChang Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the Victorian blew his competition away with an unbeatable early run at Park City.

After winning gold in 2015 and 2017, the win cements James as the only man to claim three world championships in the event.

James said winning his third World Championship title made him want to pinch himself.

"I was pinching myself when I won my second world title, and I'm triple pinching myself now that I've won my third one, it's absolutely amazing," the 24-year-old said. 

"The level of riding was incredible, I was on my toes, I knew those last two guys behind me had a lot in them to pull it together so I just wanted to land that run and do it the way I wanted to, so I'm over the moon.” 

The Olympic bronze medallist scored 94.25 in his first run, and couldn't be bested by his opposition. Then the triple Olympian beat his own score with an incredible 97.50 on his third run.

Japan's Yuto Totsuka claimed silver with 92.25 and Patrick Burgener from Switzerland took the bronze at 91.25. 

Another Aussie and dual-Olympian Kent Callister finished in fifth place with a score of 79.00.