Three U.S. Podiums Close Out X Games Aspen
In the final competition of X Games Aspen 2020 on Sunday U.S. Freeski Pro Team member Alex Ferreira defended his superpipe title securing his second-consecutive X Games gold medal.
“Let’s go,” said Alex overcome by pure happiness. “I can not believe I went back-to-back. I have so many people to thank. Thank you to my coach Elana Chase. Thank you to my friends and family who came out, I love you guys so much.”
On Alex’s last run, he landed a beautiful double cork 1440 to surpass his teammate Aaron Blunck, and become the first Aspen local to ever win back-to-back gold medals in any X Games discipline. As Alex skied into the finish corral doing his classic pole spin celebration, he was almost immediately swept away by a sea of family and friends before he could even get off a winning interview with host and U.S. Freeski alumna Jen Hudak.
The night was full of amazing moments like Kiwi Nico Porteous landing the first-ever double cork 1620 in halfpipe competition and Alex averaging almost 15 feet of amplitude in one of his runs. Aaron took home the silver medal and Canadian Brendan MacKay rounded out the podium with the bronze.
“I loved the new format,” said Aaron. “It felt like all the pressure was off because it was an overall impression and you could have the option to change things up and do things differently rather than one run counts. I think it was a new way to do things and it really worked for the very well-rounded group of U.S. Freeski athletes.”
Earlier in the day, U.S. Freeski Pro Team member Maggie Voisin earned X Games bronze in her first slopestyle competition back from ACL surgery.
“Today was a super special day,” said Maggie. “I couldn’t be more grateful to get back on the X Games slope podium today. Nine months ago when I got knee surgery all I wanted was to just be ready and back in time to compete at X. I put no expectations on myself to get a podium this week, so snagging the bronze was very emotional for me. Thank you to everyone who helped me the past several months to get to this moment. It feels absolutely amazing to be back!”
This is Maggie’s fifth X Games slopestyle medal and it serves as proof of her incredible work ethic throughout her injury recovery process. To come out and podium on arguably the biggest stage for freeskiing as her first event back speaks to her grit. Maggie was so happy to be competing again that after her second run she exclaimed from the finish area, “I’m so happy to be back!” Maggie usually has a smile on her face and her love for skiing was on full display throughout X Games Aspen 2020.
Maggie’s runs included both a forward and switch 900, beautiful rodeo 540’s off of the shark fin feature and consistent rails throughout the competition.
Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru defended her title earning gold and Swiss skier Sarah Hoefflin took home the silver.
Join us at Mammoth Mountain, Calif. or tune in to watch Maggie, Alex, and Aaron, and the rest of the U.S. Freeski and Snowboard Team compete in FIS World Cup halfpipe and slopestyle competition at the Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix Jan. 29 - Feb 1.
RESULTS
Women’s freeski slopestyle
Men’s freeski superpipe
LAND ROVER U.S. GRAND PRIX SCHEDULE
FREESKI
Wednesday, Jan. 29 - Slopestyle Qualifiers
Thursday, Jan. 30 - Halfpipe Qualifiers
Friday, Jan. 31 - Slopestyle Finals
Saturday, Feb. 1 - Halfpipe Finals
SNOWBOARD
Wednesday, Jan. 29 - Halfpipe Qualifiers
Thursday, Jan. 30 - Slopestyle Qualifiers
Friday, Jan. 31 - Halfpipe Finals
Saturday, Feb. 1 - Slopestyle Finals
HOW TO WATCH
Subject to change
All times EST
*Same-day delayed broadcast
** Next-day broadcast
FREESKI
Friday, Jan. 31
4:30 p.m. - Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix Halfpipe - Mammoth Mountain, Calif. - NBCSN
Saturday, Feb. 1
1:00 p.m. - Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix Slopestyle - Mammoth Mountain, Calif. - Olympic Channel
Sunday, Feb. 2
3:00 p.m. - Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix Slopestyle - Mammoth Mountain, Calif. - NBC**
SNOWBOARD
Friday, Jan. 31
12:30 p.m. - Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix Slopestyle - Mammoth Mountain, Calif. - NBCSN
Saturday, Feb. 1
4:00 p.m. - Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix Halfpipe - Mammoth Mountain, Calif. - Olympic Channel
5:00 p.m. - Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix Halfpipe - Mammoth Mountain, Calif. - NBC
11:30 p.m. - Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix Halfpipe - Mammoth Mountain, Calif. - NBCSN*
All streams will be available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Gold and OlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports and Olympic Channel app are available on the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire.