Words by Jeff Schmuck
X Games continued last night in beautiful Aspen, Colorado with Women's and Men's Ski Superpipe Finals under the lights in the always perfect 22-foot superpipe on Buttermilk Mountain. The ladies were the first to drop in, and once the dust had settled, it was without question the most progressive and impressive women's halfpipe contest to date, with the girls going bigger and laying down more technical tricks than ever. Needless to say, Sarah would be proud.
In eighth place was Anais Caradeux, who took some big spills on her first two runs but put it all on the line in her third...
Taking seventh was Jen Hudak, who returned to the pipe scene to compete for the first time since blowing her knee at the beginning of last winter, and as expected, was in fine form and then some...
Placing sixth was Annalisa Drew, who after putting down a rock solid first run attempted to land the first ever 1260 in a pipe contest by a female...
In fifth place was Brita Sigourney, who despite missing the podium continued to prove that she is one of the growing forces to be reckoned with on the women's halfpipe circuit...
Just shy of the podium in fourth was Keltie Hansen, who's left side 9 and back-to-back flairs during the first run of the event helped set the tone for the rest of the night...
In third, picking up the second X Games medal of her career after a long and hard fought back from a knee injury, was Megan Gunning, who laid down some of the most stylish cork 9's of the evening complemented by some seriously huge amplitude...
Taking home the silver medal was last year's gold medalist, Rosalind Groenewoud, who's huge first hit followed by a massive 9 and left and right spins throughout her run helped secure her a spot on the podium once again...
And last but not least, winning the first X Games gold medal of her career was Maddie Bowman, who's first run (which was highlighted by left and right side cork 9's) clocked in at 91.33, which was more than enough for her to be hailed as the clear winner by everyone in attendance...
Rosalind Groenewoud (2nd), Maddie Bowman (1st), Megan Gunning. Photo courtesy of ESPN
Results
1) Maddie Bowman - 91.332) Rosalind Groenewoud - 86.663) Megan Gunning - 85.004) Keltie Hansen - 84.335) Brita Sigourney - 82.666) Annalisa Drew - 81.007) Jen Hudak - 77.668) Anais Caradeux - 61.66
To see how this event affects the AFP World Rankings, visit afpworldtour.com.
Behind The Scenes at X Games - Ski Superpipe Finals
Stay tuned for more from X Games, which continues this evening with Men's Ski Big Air. To see what went down in Men's Superpipe Finals, click here, and for more information on X Games and to see when and where you can watch it on TV, check out xgames.com.