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X Games Aspen 2020 continued Saturday at Buttermilk, where medals were awarded in three Slopestyle disciplines, three Snow BikeCross disciplines, Women’s Ski SuperPipe, The Real Cost Men’s Snowboard Big Air and Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe.
Remaining podium perfect in her 15th Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle competition, perennial favorite Jamie Anderson returned to the top of the podium to take home her sixth Slopestyle gold medal. The win makes her the athlete with the most Slopestyle gold medals and the most-medaled female athlete in X Games history. Anderson’s second run included highlights of a backside rodeo 720 on the shark fin and her third run included a cab double underflip and switch tailslide 270 out. Laurie Blouin earned silver and Kokomo Murase earned bronze, her second X Games Aspen 2020 medal.
Motorcycle Hall of Fame member and defending Para Snow BikeCross gold medalist Doug Henry added gold to this collection of X Games medals with his eighth medal across three X Games sports. Henry, who won his first gold in Moto X SuperMoto at X Games Los Angeles in 2005, beat out silver medalist Brandon Dudley by more than 15 seconds and bronze medalist Leighton Lillie by more than 30.
After winning the inaugural Ski Knuckle Huck on Thursday, rookie Colby Stevenson again made history in the Jeep Men’s Ski Slopestyle competition. The 22-year-old earned the first Ski Slopestyle gold medal won by a rookie. Stevenson qualified first in the Elimination and took that momentum into the final with runs that included several 630 variations, a double cork 1440 Cuban and switch left double cork 1440 safety. Evan McEachran took silver and Fabian Bosch bronze.
After winning Adaptive Snow BikeCross at X Games Aspen by more than 22 seconds despite a transmission stuck in second gear, Mike Schultz defended his title this year by an even bigger margin of 33 seconds. Schultz owns gold medals in three different disciplines and sports, and also took home gold in Special Olympics Unified Snowboarding this weekend with Daina Shilts as his partner. Kevin Royston, defending bronze medalist, bumped up to silver this year and Kolleen Conger made it onto the podium for the first time this year with bronze.
A Canadian rider once again topped the Jeep Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle podium, this time seeing Darcy Sharpe take his first X Games medal since 2018 and first ever gold medal. His runs included heavy tricks through the rail section, a frontside triple cork 1440 Indy and a backside triple cork 1440. Sharpe made the jump from seventh place to the top spot in his fourth run of the competition. Sharpe was able to hold off the defending silver medalist Mons Roisland, who again earned silver, and Red Gerard who took bronze, his first X Games Aspen medal.
Cody Matechuk added a third consecutive Snow BikeCross gold medal to his collection, joining only three other athletes in the history of X Games motorized winter disciplines who have three-peated (Tucker Hibbert, Blair Morgan and Mike Schultz). Fellow Canadian Yanick Boucher took his first X Games medal with silver (15 seconds behind Matechuk) and defending silver medalist Jesse Kirchmeyer took bronze (18 seconds behind Matechuk).
Now eight-time X Games medalist Kelly Sildaru took gold in Women’s Ski SuperPipe, moving her one medal closer to tying Shaun White and Nyjah Huston for most medals in by a teenager in X Games history. The Estonian phenom competes once more in Women’s Ski Slopestyle on Sunday afternoon, where she is a heavy favorite. Sildaru’s final run was her best, when she landed three 900s: left 900 tail, right 900 mute and a switch left 900 safety. Last year’s bronze medalist Rachael Karker took silver and defending gold medalist Cassie Sharpe took bronze.
After missing the final in Slopestyle, Max Parrot added a sixth gold and ninth medal overall in The Real Cost Men’s Snowboard Big Air. Parrot missed Aspen 2019 (and the entire contest season) after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2018, and, after an aggressive treatment plan including 12 chemo sessions in approximately six months, he returned to take gold at X Games Norway 2019 and again tonight. Parrot blew minds, throwing down 1620s in three different directions (cab, backside and frontside), and a cab 1800 in run four that helped him hold on to the lead in an extremely close contest. In silver was Mark McMorris, which tied him with Shaun White for the most winter discipline medals (18). Swedish rider Sven Thorgren joined the two Canadians on the podium with bronze.
At 30 years old, Queralt Castellet closed out the night by winning her first-ever X Games gold medal in Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe. Castellet settled for silver behind Chloe Kim in 2019, but bettered her performance with tricks including back-to-back 900s and a cab 720 at the bottom. X Games rookies Kurumi Imai won the silver medal and Haruna Masumoto won bronze.
X Games Aspen closes out tomorrow with Women’s Ski Slopestyle, Jeep Snowboard Rail Jam, Wendy’s Snowboard Knuckle Huck, Great Clips Men’s Ski SuperPipe and Snow Bike Best Trick. The final artist of the weekend, R&B/pop superstar Bazzi, will close out the weekend on the the GEICO stage. Schedules and TV listings available at XGames.com.
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