Gold for Gerard; Freeski Superpipe Sweep; Kim & Mastro Go 1-2
The 72-hour stretch of non-stop X Games actions concluded on Saturday, Jan. 26, with the men’s snowboard slopestyle, women’s ski slopestyle, women’s and men’s snowboard street style, women’s snowboard superpipe, men’s ski superpipe and men’s ski big air. Stifel U.S. Ski Team and Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team athletes continued to put on a show, with more X Games gold medals won, history made and more.
The men’s snowboard slopestyle was up first, with 2024 X Games slopestyle champion Red Gerard looking to defend his title in front of a hometown crowd. Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team teammate Dusty Henricksen joined him in the mix, still riding the high of his bronze medal grab in knuckle huck the night before. Following the same new playoff and final format, the field was cut in half after the first two runs - Gerard made the flip and Henricksen just missed out in sixth.
In his first of two final runs, Gerard put down a switch backside 1620, a frontside 1440 and a backside 1800 to take the lead, but it was his final run, complete with a switch boardslide on the up-flat-down rail, switch backside triple 1620 and a backside 18 that secured him the X Games gold for the second consecutive year.
“It felt good for sure,” said Gerard after receiving his gold medal. “I mean, coming back as the X Games gold medalist is obviously awesome but a full 365 days goes by, I feel like I have short term memory loss, I forget how it goes and I always feel like a newbie when I come here. And obviously it’s 10 of the best riders in the world so it’s really hard to get back to the top of the podium so I’m just happy with how the week went.”
Canadian Mark McMorris, a rider Gerard has idolized throughout his entire career, earned the silver medal for the second year in a row and Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa took home the bronze.
Stifel U.S. Freeski Team’s Grace Henderson and Rell Harwood were back in action for women’s ski slopestyle. Henderson kicked things off with a smooth run and cleaned it up on her second attempt, which was good enough for fifth overall. Harwood battled a slower course and struggled to put down the run she wanted, ultimately taking seventh overall in the discipline. Tess Ledeux of France won her second straight X Games gold medal in slopestyle, with Canada’s Olivia Asselin in second and Finland’s Anni Karava in third.
The inaugural medal year for snowboard streetstyle saw Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team’s Lily Dhawornvej back in action after winning her first X Games medal in knuckle huck on Friday, Jan. 24, taking home third place in her rookie X Games appearance. Up against some of the best rail riders in the game, the 15-year-old held her own but ultimately failed to qualify out of her heat. American Iris Pham took the inaugural street-style gold, Telma Sarkipaju of Finland the silver and American Jaylen Hanson the bronze.
The men immediately followed up the women and took to the X Games street style course. Although Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team’s Dusty Henricksen was invited but decided to forgo the competition, the stoke was still high as some of the most well-known street riders in the game impressed the judges on the custom-built urban course. Canadian Frank Jobin ended the jam session on top, American Nate Haust took the silver medal and American Benny Milam finished the contest in third.
All eyes turned to women's snowboard superpipe, where 2024 X Games gold medalist Chloe Kim looked to defend her title. Kim was joined by teammates Maddie Mastro and Maddy Schaffrick for the initial playoff round of two runs each. Making her return to X Games for the first time since 2015, Schaffrick was a crowd favorite and, despite not qualifying through after the first two runs, rode down into a crowd of adoring fans. Only separated by one point, Kim and Mastro qualified in the top two spots and were the favorites heading into the round of finals. Mastro was first to drop for the two Americans and stomped a massive double crippler on her first hit to land her run clean, earning a score of 89.66. Mastro’s run would only be bested by Kim, whose impressive first finals run earned her the eighth X Games gold medal of her career, tying fellow American Shaun White for the most superpipe gold medals in X Games history.
“This one means a lot if I’m being completely honest,” said Kim. “I wish I would’ve put down my final run but I’m so happy nonetheless.”
Japan’s X Games rookie Sara Shimizu took the bronze medal, joining the two Americans on the podium.
The action continued in the same venue for the men’s ski superpipe. The Stifel U.S. Ski Team represented five of the eight men in the field: Aaron Blunck, defending X Games gold medalist Alex Ferreira, Nick Goepper, Hunter Hess and Birk Irving. Ferreira, Goepper and Hess made it through to the finals with Kiwi Finley Melville-Ives. All three Americans landed a clean first run to the podium. Goepper finished in first for his first X Games medal in superpipe (he has six previous X Games medals from slopestyle), with Ferreira in second and Hess took the bronze for the second year in a row.
The final event of the night, and X Games Aspen 2025, was men’s ski big air and 2024 X Games gold medalist Troy Podmilsak looked to defend his title. Mac Forehand and Alex Hall joined him in the event, but Podmilsak was the only American who made it to the finals. Podmilsak put down his winning trick from last year, a triple cork 2160 mute, but it wasn’t enough to secure his second X Games gold. Italy’s Miro Tabanelli landed the world’s first 2340 to secure the win. New Zealand’s Luca Harrington and Austria’s Matej Svancer joined him on the podium.
The Stifel U.S. Freeski Team and Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team walk away from the 2025 Aspen Winter X Games with 13 combined medals, six of them gold, three silver and four bronze. X Games team athletes will remain in Aspen and be joined by the rest of the squad for the upcoming Toyota U.S. Grand Prix and Visa Big Air presented by Toyota, Jan. 30 to Feb. 6.
