X Games Aspen 2021 Day Three News and Results
X Games Aspen 2021 wrapped up Sunday, with a jam-packed day filled with Jeep Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle, Jeep Men’s Ski Slopestyle, Pacifico Women’s Snowboard Big Air, Monster Energy Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe, The Real Cost Men’s Snowboard Big Air and Wendy’s Ski Knuckle Huck. The 20th annual event, live from Buttermilk Mountain, was the first-ever with no spectators in attendance.
The day began with sunny skies and perfect conditions for the Jeep Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle competition. For the first time since 2009, an American topped the podium as rookie Dusty Henrickson earned his second gold medal in his rookie X Games event. At just 17 years old, Dusty became the first snowboarder to win two gold medals in his rookie appearance. His second run was highlighted by technical rails and stylish jumps, including a Cab hardway 270 bringback, a backside 1440 Weddle grab and a double crippler double grab melon to stalefish. Stylemaster Rene Rinnekangas took silver and Mons Roisland took bronze, landing his switch backside double cork 1620 tailgrab for the first time at X Games.
American Nick Goepper is one of only three skiers who have won Jeep Men’s Ski Slopestyle more than once, and he returned to the top of the podium for the first time since 2015 today. Nick took an early lead and watched the rest of the field shuffle below him after that. Goepper had the most technical rail sections of the competition and spun his jumps in all four directions. His third run was his best with a left 270 to forward right 450 pretzel, 270 switch on pretzel 450, switch left 270 pretzel 450, left double cork 1260 tail grab, switch right double 1260 Weddle grab, right double cork 1260 tailgrab and switch left double cork 900 Japan. Norwegian Ferdinand Dahl took silver and Canadian Evan McEachran bronze.
Although Jamie Anderson has long been dubbed the queen of Slopestyle, in today’s Pacifico Women’s Snowboard Big Air competition she proved she’s also Big Air royalty. In her second run, Jamie landed a frontside double cork 1080 Weddle grab and a cab double cork 1080 Weddle grab to land the top spot. Silver medalist Miyabi Onitsuka had the single highest scored run in the competition with a first-in-women’s-competition cab double cork 1260 Weddle grab, earning her a 47. Kiwi Zoi Sadowski-Synnott added her second medal of the weekend with bronze.
After settling for silver in 2019 and 2020, Yuto Totsuka took his first gold medal in Monster Energy Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe. Throwing down a frontside double cork 1440 frontside grab, cab double cork 1260 Indy, switch backside 1080 Indy, backside double cork 1260 Weddle grab and a frontside double cork 1260 frontside grab, he bested two-time defending gold medalist Scotty James, who settled for silver, and fellow Japanese rider and rookie Ruka Hirano, who took bronze.
In one of the most progressive showcases of snowboarding, The Real Cost Men’s Snowboard Big Air saw five of the eight riders’ combined scores total over 90 points. Marcus Kleveland raised the bar, landing the first-ever backside quad cork 1800 Indy grab for a score of 48. His second trick was a cab 1800 switch Weddle grab for another 48. Sven Thorgren landed two different 1800s, which he learned during practice, to take silver. Mons Roisland also landed a frontside 1800 melon grab to earn his second medal of the day with bronze.
The style king Henrik Harlaut closed out the event winning the golden knuckles in Wendy’s Ski Knuckle Huck.
Championship Sunday certainly delivered during the RLCS X Games: North American Regional. The final six Rocket League teams left in the tournament fought to become RLCS X Games Champions, but only one would rise to claim the gold medals. In the end, it came down to Rogue and NRG Esports in the Grand Finals. Coming from the Lower Bracket, NRG Esports reset the bracket in a heart-pounding, Game 7 overtime. That meant another Best-of-7 was on the way, but this time Rogue fended off NRG Esports with a 4-0 sweep that earned them the RLCS X Games Championship. It was a fitting ending to one of the most epic Rocket League events of the RLCS X season.
