Day two at X-Games provided nonstop action from some of the heaviest hitters around the world. In addition to the competitors showing out, a much larger crowd showed up for the Saturday games, and unlike Friday, today was a warm, sunny day. Eileen Gu, one of the headlining athletes who is representing China, showed why she is the best female skier in the SuperPipe.

My first event for the day was the Men’s and Women’s OKX Snowboard Street Style. Coming into the event, I thought it was going to follow the same format as the game of ‘SLVSH’ between the skiers yesterday, however, it actually took on a 20-minute jam style competition with scores being based on overall impression and medals being handed out. This event was hosted on a small course meant to resemble an urban street scene and the jam format allowed riders to express maximum creativity and squeeze in as many runs as possible. Athletes including Zeb Powell, Pat Fava, and Darcy Sharpe were my personal favorites to watch as they were fully engaged and putting on a show for the crowd with some big spins and big air on and off of the features.. Ellie Weiler and Gabby Maiden went crazy on the female side and showed how stress-free and unique this event is in its essence. In the end, Grace Warner, and Pat Fava took home the respective gold medals for the Men’s and Women’s Street Style.

My favorite storyline of the weekend so far came from the Women’s side of this Street Style event. After watching the Women for a few minutes, I quickly realized that I recognized Gabby Maiden from somewhere else. Well, it turns out she’s also an actress who has some crucial screentime in Netflix’s very own Stranger Things. This show has been one of my favorites for quite some time now, and it was fascinating to watch Gabby display her on-snow skills. She was kind enough to come talk for a few minutes and it was definitely a highlight getting to see such a multi-faceted talent go to work.

Shifting gears, I climbed up the SuperPipe to catch the women skiers throw down. This event had a high-intensity atmosphere and turned into a chess match between Eileen Gu and Zoe Atkin in the final few rounds. Eileen is a decorated SuperPipe technician and Zoe took home the gold last year, so it was truly a battle of the best. After throwing some massive amplitude spins, Eileen ended up taking home the gold medal and Zoe, silver. I got to catch up with Zoe following the medal ceremony, and she said in order to lock in, she “hones in on having fun, skiing for the crowd, really enjoying [her]self, and trusting [her] skis and tricks … [and that she is] more excited than last year” now having back-to-back podiums in the SuperPipe. The tricks these women do, and how high they fly out of the SuperPipe, is extremely impressive and made me dizzy just watching.

Next, I went to the base of the big air jump to check out the Women’s Ski Big Air competition. Something that I really love about all of this year’s Big Air events is the style component; every athletes first hit off of the big air jump is judged completely on style. Tess Ledeux kicked things off with a massive off-axis rodeo flip that was just eye candy. She ended up taking gold in the event as well, but that first rodeo on the style jump was one of the prettiest airs that I have ever seen in person. Rell Harwood though, is who really impressed me here, and not because of any one specific trick she put down. Rell competed in the game of SLVSH yesterday, Knuckle Huck and Big Air today, and she competes in Slopestyle tomorrow. The physical ware that competing in all these events in such a short time have on the body is indescribable, and so far, Rell has won or taken podium in every event she has competed in. When I talked with her after Big Air she said that she “originally got invited for Knuckle Huck, and was unsure about competing in big air, but that it exceeded all expectations.” Rell is a high powered machine out here competing in basically every discipline, but she has more to come, so make sure to check her out in the Women’s Ski Slopestyle finals.

My final event of the day, and maybe the most entertaining purely to watch, was the Men’s Snowboard Big Air. I got to watch a ton of practice yesterday and today for this event, so I had a feeling when the competition started it was going to be hammer after hammer. Just like in the other Big Air events, the athletes first trick was based solely on style, and from his first trick to his last, Taiga Hasegawa stole the show. For his style trick, he stomped a massive, floaty switch method that immediately caught the crowd’s (and the judges’) eye. After that, he nailed a competition first switch-backside 1980 which all but sealed his gold. Other athletes like Mons Røisland and Rene Rinnekangas were super fun to watch and put down some amazing tricks as well. Not to mention, it was also pretty mind-bending to watch GimbalGod follow right behind these guys off of the jumps holding a massive camera setup. The Men’s Snowboard Big Air was the perfect way to cap off Saturday’s X-Games events and the crowd’s energy and the overall environment were as energetic as possible.

Saturday’s X-Games events ran all day and it was a battle of picking and choosing which ones I wanted to watch. A lot of the athletes seemed thrilled with their results on the day, and it was cool getting to see almost every athlete ride out of their trick with a huge smile on their face. Obviously, taking slams are a mandatory part of being invited to Winter X-Games, but I didn’t see any injuries which is always good and it seemed like for every slam there was a landed trick. The preparation, mentally and physically, that all of the athletes need to put themselves through for Aspen X-Games is applaudable, and it was a pleasure getting to see these masters working their respective crafts.

 

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Day Two Results

Men’s Ski Slopestyle

1. Birk Ruud (NOR)
2. Alex Hall (USA)
3. Mac Forehand (USA)

Women’s Snowboard Knuckle Huck

1. Kokomo Murase (JPN)
2. Annika Morgan (GER)
3. Egan Wint (USA)

Women’s Ski Knuckle Huck

1. Olivia Asselin (CAN)
2. Rell Harwood (USA)
3. Sarah Hoefflin (SUI)

Snowboard Street Style

1. Grace Warner (USA) & Pat Fava (USA)

Women’s Ski SuperPipe

1. Eileen Gu (CHN)
2. Zoe Atkin (GBR)
3. Amy Fraser (CAN)

Women’s Ski Big Air

1. Tess Ledeux (FRA)
2. Anastasia Tatalina (RUS)
3. Rell Harwood (USA)

Men’s Snowboard Big Air

1. Taiga Hasegawa (JPN)
2. Hiroaki Kunitake (JPN)
3. Mons Røisland (NOR)

Men’s Ski Knuckle Huck

1. Colby Stevenson (USA)
2. Henrik Harlaut (SWE)
3. Jesper Tjader (SWE)