Winter X Games Aspen 2023 Day 1: Sadowski-Synnott defends slopestyle gold, Oldham stuns Ledeux in big air as James earns fifth superpipe gold
The New Zealand star collected her fourth X Games gold in slopestyle and eighth overall X Games medal at Buttermilk Mountain, Aspen, while Canada's Megan Oldham made history in big air and Scotty James earned his fifth gold medal in the superpipe.
New Zealand slopestyle Olympic champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott took home the first gold medal on offer at the X Games Aspen 2023 as she edged out her Antipodean rival, Tess Coady of Australia, to the top of the podium.
Sadowski-Synnott showed why she is one of the elite Winter Games athletes around by putting down the winning run in her fourth and final attempt of the afternoon to leapfrog Beijing 2022 bronze medallist Coady.
Coady finished in second place and made history for Australia by becoming the first rider from her country to medal in slopestyle at the X Games.
Japan's Murase Kokomo, who is known more for what she's accomplished in big air, finished with the bronze. The 18-year-old pulled off a truck driver grab on a 1080 in her third run to ultimately move her into podium positioning, which she was able to hold on to.
Two-time big air Olympic gold medallist Anna Gasser had a difficult afternoon overall. The Austrian legend broke her board after Run 2, summing up what was a day to forget in an otherwise sterling career.
Freestyle ski big air: Oldham shocks field with perfect score
Megan Oldham made history in an electric evening of freestyle skiing in the big air event. The Canadian became the first woman to land a perfect score in a single trick when she pulled off a triple cork in her third run of the night.
The 21-year-old defeated the favourite, reigning champion Tess Ledeux, by a single point. Ledeux had a strong start to the night, but ultimately fell short of Oldham, who was determined to push the limits of the discipline and cap off a memorable evening.
Team GB's Kirsty Muir had an incredible night of consistent top runs. The 18-year-old from Aberdeen is the first Scottish skier to compete at the X Games and she continued to make her country proud by pulling off a double cork 1620 in her third run on the night, which ultimately saw her finish with the bronze medal.
Snowboard superpipe: Unstoppable James wins fifth X Games gold
The athletes faced extremely tricky conditions on the night as heavy snowfall even delayed the start by a few minutes, but that was not enough to stop Australian Scotty James from winning his fifth X Games superpipe gold medal.
Donning his red boxing gloves, James' first run ended up being the decider as he pulled off both a switch mctwist and switch backside 1260 to ultimately earn his fifth gold in the competition to squeeze the gap to Shaun White's record eight X Games golds in the event.
Swiss veteran Jan Scherrer had a personal best performance as he took home the silver, while James' fellow Australian Valentino Guseli finished with bronze to win his first ever X Games medal.
Reigning men’s halfpipe Olympic champion Hirano Ayumu had a night to forget as he finished in sixth place, while his brother Hirano Kaishu finished one place above him.
X Games 2023 Aspen schedule
You can find the full competition timings and schedule on the official website here.
Saturday, January 28
- Women's Snowboard Slopestyle
- Special Olympics Unified Snowboard & Ski
Sunday, January 29
- Women's Ski Big Air
- Ski Knuckle Huck
- Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe
- Men's Ski Slopestyle
- Women's Snowboard SuperPipe
Monday, January 30
- Women's Ski SuperPipe
- Women's Snowboard Big Air
- Men's Snowboard Big Air
- Women's Ski Slopestyle
- Men's Snowboard Slopestyle
Tuesday, January 31
- Snowboard Knuckle Huck
- Men's Ski Big Air
- Men’s Ski SuperPipe
Watch X Games Aspen 2023 on TV broadcast and online streams
X Games viewers in the USA can follow the action on ESPN/ABC, but the event will also be streamed to multiple countries across the globe on digital platforms YouTube and Twitch.
Full coverage details can be found here.
