Slopestyle skier Kaya Turski has got this year’s Winter X Games off to a fantastic start by grabbing the top podium spot with an awesome run…
Kaya Turski should be feeling pretty good about herself right now after grabbing her third consecutive gold medal in Winter X Women's Ski Slopestyle yesterday - and she did it by landing the first switch 1080 by a woman in Winter X Games history.
Kaya needed to pull off something special to beat leader Devin Logan’s impressive score of 92.33 and she did just that with an awesome trick that landed her a perfect 10.
"My first two runs weren't as clean as I wanted them to be, so I just decided to go for the 10," said Kaya. "It didn't hurt that I was sitting in third place already so I had a medal. That kind of eased it and I just went for it."
Her final run won her 95 points and saw her leapfrogging from bronze to gold and leaving Devin Logan and Australia's Anna Segal settling for second and third places respectively.
"I definitely feel like the sport's on a fast track," said Kaya. "I think everyone's getting really serious about it. I've never seen the level so high as I did today."
In honour of the late Sarah Burke, who sadly died following an accident recently, Kaya and many of her fellow competitors wore a black armband: "We have someone watching from above that we need to make proud," Turski said. "We all need to follow in Sarah's footsteps. She was pushing the sport even when she didn't need to, she was trying new tricks, landing new tricks, and I think now it's our turn to keep pushing for her."
Other Red Bull-backed athletes who took to the snow on the first day of Winter X Games 16 included Russ Henshaw and PK Hunder who just missed out on a podium spot in the Men’s Ski Slopestyle with fifth and sixth final ranking respectively. Meanwhile, Forest Bailey stormed the gold medal with a brilliant performance in Snowboard Street.
Want more?
- More from the Winter X Games
- Winter X Games 16: Practice makes perfect!
- Behind the scenes with snowboarder Sebastien Toutant
- More winter sports on redbull.com
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