Three Superpipe riders and four slopestyle competitors battled their way through a slew of freeskiing’s best up-and-coming riders at the Paul Mitchell X-Qualifiers last weekend in Breckenridge, CO. The lucky seven earned tickets to the final spots in the X-Games, to be held Jan. 24-27, 2004 in Aspen, CO.

Dan Marion, representing the Carabasset Valley Academy, nailed down the first-place finish in slopestyle, while Pete Olenick and Silas Miller filled in the rest of the podium. Sweden's Niklas Karlstrom beat out such competition as Heath Ordway, Jon McMurray, Rex Thomas, Mike Wilson, and Rory Bushfield for the fourth ticket to the Games.

In the U-ditch, Phil Belanger picked up first place, but because he'd already received a wild card entry, an X Games spot was also given to the fourth-place finisher. Chris Turpin’s switch antics helped him lock down second place, while Olenick picked up a third-place finish and another X-Games spot. Niklas Karlstrom's fourth-place effort gave him his second X Games event.

These qualifiers will join the other qualified skiers (20 total for slopestyle, 16 for halfpipe) in Aspen for more insanity. Slopestyle competitors will face off in the prelims and finals on Sunday, Jan. 25, while the halfpipe competition will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 27, culminating in a nighttime final.

Slopestyle will be aired on ESPN from 3-6pm Jan. 25 (EST), and halfpipe on Jan. 27 from 9-11pm (EST).

For more information, check out http://www.expn.com

Qualified Athletes

Superpipe

Tanner Hall

Jon Olsson

C.R. Johnson

Jon Reedy

Greg Tuffelmire

Dave Crichton

Shoya Okazaki

Phil Belanger

Phil Larose

Scott Hibbert

Simon Dumont

Henrik Windstedt

Gigi Couttet

Chris Turpin

Pete Olenick

Niklas Karlstrom

Slopestyle

Tanner Hall

Jon Olsson

Steele Spence

Laurent Favre

Rory Silva

Nick Mercon

Simon Dumont

Mark Abma

Iannick B.

Charles Gagne

Thomas Diet

Lars Veen

Nico Zacek

Mickael Deschenaux

C.R. Johnson

Chris Turpin

Dan Marion

Pete Olenick

Silas Miller

Niklas Karlstrom