First Time’s a Charm

Winter X Games Rookie Dueck Wins Mono Skier X

To say that the Mono Skier X contest belonged to Josh Dueck would be an understatement. He had the top time in qualifying, the top time in the semifinals and he ran away from the competition to capture Winter X Games gold.

"It's pretty good; it's the most fun I've had in a long time,” an overwhelmed Dueck said. “Just the community of people that's around here – it's like a big old family – they kept my equipment in order and made it real easy for me to do what I love to do. It's the most fun ever, it's amazing."

The top three spots in the event all went to Winter X Games rookies.

Silver medalist Brandon Adam said that Dueck was just plain impossible to beat.

"He wasn't untouchable I just couldn't get enough speed,” said Adam of the winner. “I couldn't catch up to him, he just got way too big of a lead and that's it. I just couldn't close that distance."

Sean Rose took the bronze and said the course – though intimidating at first – pushed him to do his best.

“The course was very intimidating when I first got here,” said Rose. “I didn’t know what to expect and I looked at the course and said, ‘oh my god.’ But after a few inspection runs and the qualifying runs, it wasn’t actually as bad as I thought. I hadn’t hit that final booter all week and I just thought, ‘I gotta do it. Throw it down.’ That was the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Mono Skier X is a fast and curious course race that features disabled mono skiers racing over tabletop jumps, banked turns, rollers and gaps. Like the other X course disciplines at Winter X, Mono Skier X is a fusion of motocross and downhill racing on snow.

WINTER X GAMES 15

Winter X Games will celebrate its 15th anniversary in Aspen/Snowmass, Colo. January 27-30, 2011, with live coverage on ESPN and ESPN2. This will mark the 10th consecutive year Winter X Games will be held in Aspen and will feature new events, more than 200 athletes and primetime coverage on ESPN on Sun., Jan.30. In addition to 24 hours of live programming on ESPN, Winter X Games 15 will be offered for the first time on ESPN 3D, as well as on ESPN International, XGames.com, ESPN360.com, SportsCenter andESPN2’s X Center.