VALENTINO GUSELLI went to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics with very little to lose. Then 16, the Australian snowboarder was touted as one to watch in a couple Games’ time, with Beijing being an opportunity to gain experience, if not challenge for a medal. But it was never going to be only a chance to cut his teeth. Guselli has made a habit of exceeding expectations.
He qualified for the final. Then, after his first run, he was in the silver medal position. He would ultimately slide down to sixth, but the statement had been made: Guselli was going to be a problem, very soon.
Most athletes in his position would have been thrilled with the result, but Guselli felt like the job wasn’t finished. “I wanted more to be honest,” he tells Men’s Health. “At that stage I hadn’t been to a world championship, hadn’t won anything at a World Cup or at the X Games, but once I was there I was thinking: yeah, I can do this, I can win the whole thing.”
Let’s get one thing straight: it’s Valentino. Not Val. And certainly not Tino. “I figure my parents gave me a pretty unique name so I might as well use it,” he says.
Guselli has been called the next big thing for years, an expectation you’d assume would add a fair bit of pressure for a young athlete still finding his feet on the pro circuit. Not Guselli. He doesn’t see pressure as something imposed from the outside, but as an internal standard he’s set for himself. “I feel like most of the pressure actually comes from myself rather than anyone else,” he says. “I just want to do the best that I can all the time.”
Snowboarding has been part of Guselli’s life almost from the beginning. He first strapped into a board at three years old, started competing by six, and was racing in the Snowy Mountains before most kids his age had worked out what sport they liked. “Everything just kind of evolved from there,” he says. “Then I started going overseas for races and comps.”
That early exposure matters in the halfpipe discipline, where progression is everything. Riders are constantly balancing risk and reward, pushing trick difficulty while knowing that one mistimed landing can end a season, or worse. “You’ve got to be very calculated with what you do,” Guselli explains. “You don’t start off with the hardest tricks or attempt anything you can’t do. It’s more of a steady progression.”
For Guselli, that progression has been happening from the very beginning. “I did my first 180 when I was probably five, and now I’m at a point where I’m doing 1980s and working towards 2160s,” he says. “You just have to keep building up and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone.”
Off the snow, the work is just as deliberate. Guselli’s training days are a blend of high-intensity conditioning, strength work and plyometrics. Recently, he’s been pushing himself on the assault bike. “I actually just did a zone five bike session five minutes ago,” he says. “I tried not having distractions and just focusing on it, but now I’ve decided the easiest way is to pair it with something I really enjoy. So I’ve been bingeing TV shows on the bike.”
He’s also been spending plenty of time rehabbing a knee injury, after an ACL tear suffered in training last year forced him to slow down. “I went a little bit too fast on a jump,” he says. “I landed my trick perfectly, but then I guess my knee just twisted a little funny, and then that was that.”
When he speaks with Men’s Health six months out from the Milano-Cortina Olympics, Guselli says he’s physically back to full strength, but his riding is still catching up. “I think my riding level’s only at about 60 per cent of my usual capacity, but I’m working my way back up.” He assures us, though, that he’ll be ready to go once Milano-Cortina rolls around.
Guselli is part of a new generation of Australian snowboarders who’ve grown up watching Scotty James. The two have competed together multiple times, and there’s a great deal of respect between them. “He’s the man,” Guselli says. “He’s really shown what’s possible as an Australian snowboarder. It’s cool when we can both get on the podium and it’s two Aussies up there in front of guys from snow-dominated countries like Japan, Switzerland, Canada and America.”
With Milan on the horizon, the question of medal chances is obvious. Guselli doesn’t shy away from it. “I think if you’re not saying that you’re confident you can win a medal, then you’re probably not going to win one,” he says. “So I’m going to say I’m very confident.”
That confidence isn’t arrogance, it’s the product of years of steady progression and building towards being the best in the world. Guselli has had enough of being up next. His time is now.
The Olympic Winter Games Milano-Cortina 2026 will screen live and free on the 9Network and 9Now.
