Kim, Podmilsak Win Gold at X Games; X Games Day 1 Recap

The best snowboard and freeski athletes descended on the slopes of Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado for the first day of competition at the 2024 Winter X Games. Day one action included women’s snowboard slopestyle, men’s snowboard knuckle huck, men’s ski big air and men’s and women’s snowboard superpipe.

Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team’s Hailey Langland kicked the weekend off in the women’s slopestyle competition, replacing teammate Julia Marino, who was unfortunately ruled out of competition due to injury. Athletes had three runs to show off trick difficulty, variety, use of course and execution, and the stacked heat of eight women threw down. Despite finding out she was competing only a few hours before, Langland came out strong and put down her first and best run of the day, scoring a 70.6 and landing fifth overall. The top spot went to 17-year-old Mia Brookes of Great Britain, who threw a never-been-done 1440 on the last jump to earn her first X Games gold.

Attention turned to the women’s superpipe competition where nine-time X Games medalist and Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team rider Chloe Kim made her highly anticipated return to the event since her win in 2021. Back like she never left, Kim was dominant from the start and found herself sitting in the top spot after run one. After clinching the title, Kim put on a show in her victory lap to become the first woman to land a 1260 in halfpipe competition. She is now tied with snowboard legend Kelly Clark for most X Games superpipe victories, each with seven, and her perfect podium streak is still alive, with nine superpipe medals in nine starts.

Kim was joined in the pipe by two X Games rookies and her teammates Bea Kim and Kinsley White, who both showed poise under pressure and put down solid runs under the superpipe lights. White made her X Games debut after teammate and three-time X Games medalist Maddie Mastro was sidelined due to injuries sustained from last week’s Laax Open. Mastro sets her focus on recovery and hopes to be back to full health for next weekend’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in Mammoth Mountain, the place she calls home.

The Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team was represented in the men’s knuckle huck by Luke Winkelmann and Jake Canter, who took on the likes of previous knuckle huck champion Zeb Powell in the 20-minute jam-style event that prioritizes creativity and style. With 2021 X Games gold medalist American Dusty Henriksen out with a back injury and three-time gold medalist Marcus Kleveland from Norway out with a concussion, Powell was the clear favorite, but it was the Canadian X Games rookie Liam Brearley who took the top spot on the podium, followed by Powell in second and fellow Canadian Darcy Sharpe in third. Winkelmann finished just off the podium in fourth and Canter took eighth.

Unlike previous years, the 2024 X Games big air competition featured three runs per rider, the first being a “style” trick that’s scored on a 1-10 scale and compromising only 10% of their total score. The remaining jumps were scored throughout a 30-minute jam format with only the best two counting toward their overall final score.

Reigning X Games big air champion and Stifel U.S. Freeski Team athlete Mac Forehand joined teammates Alex Hall and Troy Podmilsak to compete in the lone freeski event of the night. Hall, a nine-time X Games medalist, added another X Games silver to his resume, throwing a never-been-done switch 18 with a tail butter that was only bested by Podmilsak, who secured the gold by throwing a 2160, the same trick that won him a World Cup championship this past season. Forehand was the last to drop for the night and ended the night in a respectable fifth place.

It was back to the superpipe for the men’s snowboard competition at the end of the night, featuring a field of heavy hitters including Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team member and X Games bronze medalist Chase Josey, who ended the day in seventh place. X Games superpipe king, Australia’s Scotty James, secured his third X Games victory in a row. 2023 FIS halfpipe Crystal Globe winner Ruka Hurano took silver and Kaishu Hirano, the Guinness World Record holder for highest halfpipe air, took bronze to round out the podium.

The action continues Saturday with the men’s ski slopestyle, women’s ski and snowboard knuckle huck, men’s and women’s snowboard street, women’s ski superpipe, men’s and women’s ski big air, men’s snowboard big air and men’s ski knuckle huck.

STARTERS

Men’s ski slopestyle

• Mac Forehand
• Alex Hall
• Colby Stevenson

Women’s ski knuckle huck

• Rell Hardwood

Men’s and women’s snowboard street

• Judd Henkes
• Luke Winkelmann

Women’s ski superpipe

• Svea Irving
• Riley Jacobs

Women’s ski big air

• Rell Harwood

Men’s snowboard big air

• Chris Corning

Men’s ski knuckle huck

• Alex Hall
• Cody LaPlante
• Colby Stevenson

HOW TO WATCH (times in ET)
12:30 p.m. - men’s ski slopestyle - live on ABC, live stream on xgames.com 
2:30 p.m. - women’s snowboard knuckle huck - live stream on xgames.com 
3:30 p.m. - women’s ski knuckle huck - live stream on xgames.com 
4:15 p.m. - men’s and women’s snowboard street - live stream on xgames.com 
7:00 p.m. - women’s ski superpipe - live stream on xgames.com 
8:30 p.m. - women’s ski big air - live stream on xgames.com 
10:00 p.m. - men’s snowboard big air - live on ESPN, live stream on xgames.com 
11:00 p.m. - men’s ski knuckle huck - live on ESPN, live stream on xgames.com