Snowboarding
All you need to know about Winter X Games 2019
Get the most important news and watch the best videos of all the big snowboard, freeski and snowmobile events in Colorado right here.
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Winter X Games 2019 has kicked off big time in Aspen, Colorado. Scroll down to see all the pivotal action from the 22nd running of the event and get the lowdown on who's been making a big impression Stateside.
Day 1 – Thursday, January 24
Men's Ski Slopestyle Elimination
Ski Slopestyle Elimination gave us a first look at the latest Slopestyle course at Aspen’s Buttermilk Mountain: a four-deep rail garden leading into a three-deep jump and quarter line ending with the traditional giant Money booter. It's quite a progression from the first-ever X Games Slopestyle course of 1998, when legend JP Auclair won on a simple two-kicker line.
Jesper Tjäder kicking it
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Swedish rail specialist Jesper Tjäder made his mark in the field of 16 with a creative and super-tech rail section going into a tricky 1620 double cork tail to blender switch 1440 combo on the final two booters. But Canadian destroyer Alex Beaulieu-Marchand took the tech up a notch further with an ultra-smooth and tech rail line followed by the first triple cork of the day on the final jump to score a hefty 93.66 into first place qualifier.
The top five skiers will join already-qualified Slopestyle beasts Øystein Braaten, Henrik Harlaut and James Woods in Sunday’s final.
Mark McMorris doing X Games 2019 in style
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Men's Snowboard Big Air Elimination
2019 is the first year the Snowboard Big Air has had a qualifying round, and it’s a reflection of just how deep the talent pool has become in freestyle snowboarding. Eight riders battled it out for five spots in Saturday’s final, where they’ll join pre-qualified big hitters Yuki Kadono, Chris Corning and Mark McMorris.
The format was fast and loose: a 25-minute jam session with the best two scores counting, giving the riders every chance to prove themselves worthy of a shot at the big time.
Takeru Otsuka is one of the most exciting new names in the game: the 17-year-old Japanese rider scored Big Air gold at last year’s X Games in Norway and has been clocking podium performances ever since. Otsuka will be hoping for his biggest result yet in Aspen after qualifying comfortably in second, with a Cab triple 1620 to get the highest trick score of the day.
Watch Takeru Otsuka and Yuki Kadono's double 360:
Canadian powerhouse Sébastien Toutant returned for his 13th Winter X Games, and he’s showing zero signs of slowing down after qualifying for the final in third with a couple of meaty triple corks.
Meanwhile, Swedish ripper Sven Thorgren seems to have recovered perfectly from a nasty concussion sustained at last week’s Laax Open, qualifying in pole position with a couple of perfectly formed triple cork 1440s.
Women's Snowboard Big Air Final
Thursday night saw the hotly anticipated Women’s Big Air go down. This is only the third time this event has taken place and it’s a good indication of just how fast women’s freestyle snowboarding has evolved in recent years.
Anna Gasser of Austria has been leading the new wave of progression and landed the world’s first female triple cork last November. She was scheduled to compete, but she had to pull out due to an ankle injury.
That left all eyes on the five-time X Games gold medallist Jamie Anderson, who was hoping to earn her first gold in Big Air. But with young, hungry and progressive riders like Klaudia Medlová of Slovakia and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand in the mix, it was anyone’s guess who'd win – the only sure thing was that this 23-minute jam session would involve at least one double cork.
Watch Zoi Sadowski-Synnott win Snowboard Big Air silver:
Sadowski-Synnott is an Olympic gold medallist and she got the ball rolling with a huge off-axis Switch Backside 900 to set the pace in style. But then Canadian Laurie Blouin stole the show, putting down a frontside 900 followed by a Cab double Underflip 900, giving her a solid lead.
It all came down to the last jump, and Sadowski came within a of snatching victory with a sweet backside 900, but it wasn’t quite enough to take gold.
Either way, this was definitely the night the rookies came, stomped and conquered.
Women's Ski Superpipe Final
Next up for Thursday night’s action was the Men’s and Women’s Ski Superpipe event: a three run, best-run-counts showdown in Aspen’s glistening superpipe. The women’s event was an ultra-competitive battle between Estonian super-rookie Kelly Sildaru and Canadian Cassie Sharpe. Sildaru established an early lead and held it until the final run when Sharpe, a three-time X Games medallist, snatched the win with a run, including back-to-back 900s and a leftside 1080 on the last hit.
Watch Kelly Sildaru win Ski Superpipe silver:
Men's Ski Superpipe Final
In the men’s event, Aspen local hero and 2014 bronze medallist Alex Ferreira put together the performance of his life to win gold ahead of Nevada’s David Wise, who was hot favourite for the win after winning four previous golds in Aspen. Ferreira’s last run scored highest, featuring a rightside double cork 1260 into a leftside double cork 1080, finishing with his signature double flatspin on the final hit.
Not that Wise minded getting silver: he’s best friends with Ferreira and was delighted to see his buddy take the win. Meanwhile, Kiwi ripper Nico Porteous put down a tight run to complete the podium.
Watch Nico Porteous win Ski Superpipe bronze:
Day 2 – Friday, January 25
Friday saw Winter X Games 2019 hit full speed with some spectacular freestyle snow action. Women’s Ski Slopestyle, Snowmobile Freestyle, Women’s Ski Big Air and Men’s Snowboard Big Air all went down in mind-blowing style.
Women's Ski Slopestyle Final
The biggest result of Winter X Games Aspen 2019 so far has to be the incredible performance of Estonia's Kelly Sildaru in the women’s Women’s Ski Slopestyle event. After putting down a huge leading score of 96.66 in her second run, the ultra-talented rookie cleaned it up to near-perfection in her third and final run.
Dropping switch into a near-flawless line through the rail garden, Sildaru put down a perfect triple combo through the kickers: a rightside cork 900 tailgrab into a switch backside 1080, then mirroring it with a switch rightside 1080 on the final money booter. The judges had no choice but to give Sildaru a 99.00 score: the highest ever in Women’s Ski Slopestyle.
Watch Kelly Sildaru win Women's Ski Slopestyle gold:
It’s an amazing accomplishment for someone who’s just 16 years old, but all the more amazing when you consider this was Sildaru's third X Games gold.
After missing last year’s X Games due to an ACL injury, Sildaru came back with a vengeance in 2019. She'd already scored a silver medal in Thursday’s halfpipe event, then went on to bag another bronze medal in the Big Air event later that night. Earning bronze, silver and gold in one contest puts Sildaru in a league of her own: an incredible performance that’s a first in the history of X Games.
Snowmobile Freestyle Final
Friday also saw the huge spectacle that is Snowmobile Freestyle go down. All eyes were on Swedish sled pilot Daniel Bodin, who didn’t disappoint. Bodin, who landed the world’s first double backflip on a sled back in 2017, laid down a second run filled with super-extended backflip variations, including a perfect Shaolin bar-hop flip which was enough to put him one point ahead of last year’s winner, Brett Turcotte.
Watch Daniel Bodin win Snowmobile Freestyle gold:
Women's Ski Big Air Final
With the snowmobile shredding done, it was time for all eyes to go back to the super-booter for the Women’s Ski Big Air and Men’s Snowboard Big Air finals. The women kicked off first, and Swiss ripper Mathilde Gremaud set the bar with a perfect switch leftside double cork 1080 on her third jump, earning a huge score of 47.00. Despite suffering from an injured ankle, Gremaud kept her fighting spirit and ultimately took home a deserved gold, followed by Johanne Killi of Norway.
Watch Mathilde Gremaud win Ski Big Air gold:
Kelly Sildaru doesn’t have any double corks in her bag (yet) but she’s a master of spinning switch in both directions. A switch leftside 1080 followed by a switch rightside 1260 was enough to earn the incredible Estonian bronze and a record-breaking three-medal haul at X Games 2019.
Men's Snowboard Big Air Final
Next up was the Men’s Snowboard Big Air. This event has a long history of mind-blowing Never Been Dones (NBDs) and 2019 didn’t disappoint. This time around it was Japanese phenomenon Takeru Otsuka who walked away with gold. Needing to complete two opposing rotation tricks for a combined score, Otsuka put down a not-too-clean but mind-blowing frontside 1800 tailgrab to storm into the lead, then sealed the deal with a perfect Cab 1620 triple cork.
Watch Takeru Otsuka win Snowboard Big Air gold:
Meanwhile, Canadian Mark McMorris proved that he’s still up there with the best after nearly a decade at the top, flying into silver with a perfect backside 1620 and ultra-technical frontside triple cork 1440 with Mute-to-tailgrab.
Watch Mark McMorris win Snowboard Big Air silver:
With Otsuka clearly on fire and McMorris showing no hangover from the near-fatal crash he was involved in a year ago, the stage is set for an incredible Slopestyle showdown.
Day 3 – Saturday, January 26
Women's Snowboard Slopestyle Final
New Zealand’s teen super-prodigy Zoi Sadowski-Synnott proved beyond all doubt that her Olympic bronze was no fluke here in Aspen this week. After narrowly missing out on gold in Thursday’s Big Air, Zoi put it all together perfectly on Buttermilk Mountain’s Slopestyle course to take gold in what’s her first (but surely not her last) X Games victory. The 17-year-old Kiwi ripper put down a huge first run of 90 points to take a commanding lead, then cleaned it up a little more for her last run, scoring 91. Zoi’s run saw her mix up technical rotations with stylish grabs through the rail garden, then throw down the same tricks in the jump section that she’d already stomped in Thursday’s Big Air: a backside 900 into a switch backside 900, sealed with a double backflip on the final jump. It’s a run that would have seemed impossible just a few short years ago, and it represents just how rapidly women’s snowboarding is progressing right now.
Watch Zoi Sadowski-Synnott win Women's Snowboard Slopestyle gold:
Following hard on Zoi’s heels was another huge young talent, 18-year-old Hailey Langland (USA), who is probably the most stylish female Slopestyle rider in the world today. After putting down two solid but untechnical runs, Hailey stepped up a gear for her third and final run, stomping a textbook frontside 1080 on the Money Booter, sending her from sixth to second in the rankings, a whisker away from gold.
Watch Hailey Langland win Women's Snowboard Slopestyle silver:
Men's Snowboard Slopestyle Final
Next up was the men’s event and the fans welcomed back Canada’s Mark McMorris back with open arms as he returned from 2018’s terrible injury to re-assert the dominance he’s had in the sport since winning X Games double gold back in 2012. Going into his last run and the final run of the contest and sitting in bronze behind Norwegian Mons Røisland and Olympic gold medallist Red Gerard, Mark put together a flawlessrun that saw him blaze through the rail garden with his usual technical brilliance, then blast the kicker line with a switch backside 1260 – frontside triple cork 1080 – backside 1620 combo. It was enough to put him two points ahead of Finnish rookie Rene Rinnekangas, who had also put down the run of a lifetime in his third and final run.
Welcome back, McLovin’!
Watch Mark McMorris win Snowboard Slopestyle gold:
Men's Ski Big Air Final
As the sun went down on Buttermilk Mountain, the lights fired up for Saturday night’s action, starting with the Men's Ski Big Air Final. There was a great balance of top dogs and young guns in the field, including super Scandinavians Øystein Braaten and Henrik Harlaut, who between them have eight X Games gold medals. But, it looks like the latest Super Scandinavian – Norway’s Birk Ruud – is becoming the man to beat as he repeated his 2018 X Games Norway win, dropping a switch leftside 1620 triple-cork and a rightside double cork 1620 with alternate tail grabs. That gave Birk two-score total of 89 points that was two points better than Canadian Alex Beaulieu-Marchand, and it’s going to be interesting to see how he does in Sunday’s Ski Slopestyle finals.
Women's Snowboard SuperPipe
Saturday’s climax was the Women's Snowboard SuperPipe, and once again it was all about Korean-American halfpipe phenom Chloe Kim, whose dominance of the sport has been near-undisputed ever since she first won X Games gold back in 2015. Still, even Chloe needs to put down one clean run to win, and last night saw her drop the ball on two of her three runs – uncharacteristic for this ultra-consistent athlete. But her second run – definitely a ‘safety’ run by Chloe’s high standards – was enough to earn her the win ahead of Spanish flier Queralt ‘Cannonball’ Castellet, whose strong first run was good enough to carry her through to the silver spot on the podium. This was a huge night for Queralt, winning her first X Games medal after six years of near-misses.
Watch Queralt Castellet win Snowboard SuperPipe silver:
Day 4 – Sunday, January 27
Men's Ski Slopestyle
Sunday saw one of the most exciting battles of the week go down on the Buttermilk Slopestyle course as the male skiers hit the mountain. In a best-of-three runs format, Alex Hall, the Alaskan-born Swiss-raised SLC-based ripper threw down a winning second-run score, then underlined it with an even bigger final run to take gold. With a filming career already taking off and a bagful of unique tricks at his disposal, the future is bright, and while this is Alex’s first X Games medal, judging by the technical level he’s reached at the age of 20 – it won’t be his last.
It’s also been a hell of a week for Canadian rail master Alex Beaulieu-Marchand – he earned a well-deserved silver medal in last night’s Big Air event, and after qualifying in first place in Thursday’s Slopestyle qualifiers, the 24-year-old Quebec native scored another silver in today’s final, finishing up just two points behind Hall.
Men’s Snowboard Superpipe
With four days of intense action done, it was time for the grand-finale: the Men’s Snowboard Superpipe event. In recent years the discipline has been dominated by athletes from USA, Japan and Switzerland – with one exception: Australia’s Scotty James. And with a field packed with heavy hitters from the big three nations – Danny Davis, Yuto Totsuka, Iouri Podladtchikov were all present and correct – it was the tall Aussie who once again showed he’s the man to beat, outgunning everyone in terms of technical difficulty.
Watch Scotty James win Snowboard SuperPipe gold:
If gold went to technical difficulty, silver went to Yuto Totsuka’s amplitude, and bronze went to Danny Davis’s style. Which, when you think about it, is exactly how halfpipe judges prioritise the three key facets of a run, and it’s great to see a rider like Danny Davis making podium despite not pulling off any big rotations. Style never goes out of fashion!
And that's a wrap for the Winter X Games 2019 from Aspen!
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