23,000 spectators packed the grounds of X Games Aspen on Friday (January 23) and they were treated to excitement on the courses and on the Sound Factory stage as the legendary Snoop Dogg entertained those in attendance.
The action started fast and furious on the X Course with Men’s, Women’s and Adaptive Snowboarder X. In the women’s event, Lindsey Jacobellis captured her ninth overall gold medal in Snowboarder X after she passed silver medalist Dominique Maltais late in the race. France’s Nelly Moenne Loccoz finished in third to capture the bronze.
In the men’s event, Canada’s Kevin Hill jumped out front early in the finals and never looked back grabbing his first X Games Aspen gold. Italy’s Omar Visintin, who is making his first X Games Aspen appearance, grabbed the silver with Snowboarder X legend Nate Holland taking the bronze.
The first-ever Adaptive race was won by Keith Gabel who narrowly edged out New Zealand’s Carl Murphy. Gabel led the race from the start with the hard-charging Murphy closing the gap just before the finish. It wasn’t quite enough as Gabel grabbed his first X Games Aspen medal. Canada’s Alex Massie took home the bronze not far behind the gold and silver medalists.
As night fell over Buttermilk, the attention moved to the Big Air course where Mark McMorris outpaced his competitors with a 35 on his first run and a 47 on his third run to capture gold with a combined score of 88. Fellow Canadian and last year’s gold medalist Max Parrot took silver with a combined score of 82 and Japan’s Yuki Kadono took the bronze with a score of 66. McMorris, who also won gold in this event in 2012, received his competition high score of 47 with a frontside triple cork 1440.
The final event of day three saw snowmobiles take-off over a 75-foot gap in Snowmobile Long Jump. And at the end of the event, no one jumped longer than Heath Frisby who took gold with a long jump of 164 feet 11 inches. Cory Davis captured the silver and Colten Moore, who won Speed & Style last night, rounded out the podium by taking bronze.
On Saturday, X Games Aspen 2015 will feature finals in Men’s and Women’s Ski Slopesyle, Snowmobile HillCross, Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe and GoPro Ski Big Air. On the Sound Factory stage, electro-funk duo Chromeo will entertain the crowd at 4 p.m. MT and then at 9:30 p.m. MT, Grammy Award Winner Skrillex will take the stage. Tickets for all other musical acts can be purchased at www.XGamesAspen.FrontgateTickets.com. All concerts will also be streamed live via www.XGames.com.
