If you’re wondering what the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics will look like in two weeks, look no further then the Jeep Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final during X Games Aspen 2026. It’s chaotic, courageous and a whole lot of jaw-dropping progression — and Sunday afternoon’s (January 25) contest was no exception.
Under flat light, swirling snow, and Colorado’s famously unpredictable conditions, three of the most familiar (and beloved) faces in freestyle snowboarding rose to the moment: Mark McMorris, Marcus Kleveland, and Red Gerard. Not only did they walk away with gold, silver, and bronze — they also walked straight into Olympic momentum, as all three are now gearing up to make their highly-anticipated return to the world’s biggest stage. And yes… the vibes? Immaculate. The riding? Historic. The emotions? Fully unlocked.
For Sunday’s contest, let’s start our recap with the headline moment: Mark McMorris is officially the winningest winter athlete in X Games history. With his gold medal in Aspen, McMorris earned his 25th career X Games medal, including his 14th gold and an astonishing eighth Slopestyle win — cementing a legacy that somehow still feels like it’s getting better with age.
But it didn’t come easy.
Through two runs, it looked like the podium might slip away. Conditions worsened. Speed was sketchy. Visibility was rough. And then, in true Mark fashion, he threw down a completely reworked final run — including a backside triple cork 1440 and frontside triple 1800 — and flipped the leaderboard upside down.
“Holy sh*t. It was a very stressful day and then ended on like the highest of highs,” McMorris told Celeb Secrets host Juliet Schroder moments after stepping off the course. “I made an executive decision to switch my run up due to speed and then go for that hard trick on the bottom jump… It took me to my last run to make it all come together.”
Down at the finish corral, emotions were high for everyone in attendance… including Mark himself.
“I was just proud of myself,” he continued. “I landed a run, I just can’t believe I landed on top of a podium again. It’s just insane.”
And when we asked what it meant to reach 25 medals?
“It’s like — I wanted to be a part of this as a kid and then 25 medals later… you can’t even dream that stuff up. I’m 32 years old, still competing with the young dogs, heading to Italy in a couple days to try and build off this momentum. Winning X Games slope for an eighth time is just a dream come true.”
Yes, you read that right. Italy in a couple of days. McMorris is rolling straight from Aspen into Olympic prep mode, fueled by one of the most meaningful wins of his career.
“I feel like a lot of the work is done — just trying to take care of my body, stay focused, and keep loving snowboarding,” he said. “Keep showing it love, keep giving it effort, and letting it give it back to me.”
Mark McMorris at the Olympics? Again? With momentum like this? We’re seated.
If anyone knows how to thrive in chaos, it’s Marcus Kleveland, and Sunday’s final asked exactly that of him.
With awful conditions resulting in speed issues all day long, consistency was nearly impossible. But when it counted most, the Norwegian phenom delivered, putting down a clean, technical run that earned him silver and his first trip to the X Games podium in three years.
“It was very tricky today. Flat light, snowy, a bit bad speed,” Kleveland told Celeb Secrets. “But we made it happen. Really happy for Mark and Red as well. We all put together a run, which felt amazing. So it also feels really good for myself to be able to put one down and to be on the podium again.”
And that run? It came at the perfect time.
“I haven’t been able to put one together at all this week,” he admitted. “So to be able to put one down when it mattered was kinda like a dream come true for me.”
For longtime fans, Kleveland’s rise from teenage X Games rookie to podium mainstay has been one of snowboarding’s most rewarding arcs — and he hasn’t lost the joy along the way. When asked what he’d tell his younger self, his answer was pure Marcus.
“Just have love for snowboarding. That’s it.”
Just like Mark for Team Canada, Marcus will also pack his bags and head to Milan, where he’ll represent Norway at the Olympics and chase the biggest podium of his career.
“It feels amazing to be able to go to Milan and represent Norway, and the crew that we are is amazing,” he said. “I’ve seen a couple videos from the course and it looks kind of crazy. It’s gonna be a hectic three weeks for sure. But yeah, I’m up for a challenge.”
Oh, and his Olympic downtime plans? “Just eat pasta,” he laughed.
Rounding out the podium was none other than Red Gerard, who looked poised to three-peat before McMorris’ late-run heroics. Despite that, the 25-year-old still walked away with bronze and another massive confidence boost heading into his third Olympic Games.
Conditions, once again, played villain.
“The conditions actually weren’t great — kind of a bummer,” Gerard told Celeb Secrets. “Practice started out best-of-best, and then it quickly changed. First run was really tough — hot hill wind. Second run got better, and then third run was just so snowy.”
Still, Red stayed locked in.
“I never come into a contest thinking about being on the podium,” he said. “I just come into it thinking about landing that run.”
And land it he did, in a stacked field on one of the most unpredictable Slopestyle courses of the season.
With the X Games behind him, the Silverthorne, CO based athlete has his eyes on the Olympic gold once again, and the spark he had when he first landed in PyeongChang in 2018 is very well alive heading into Milano-Cortina.
“I’m honored to be going back for my third Olympics. There’s no better feeling than representing your home country,” Gerard said. “I’m happy to be going over there with four of my good pals, and yeah — we’re gonna try our best to bring home some hardware.”
Having already lived through the whirlwind of Olympic fame, Red says experience is his secret weapon this time around.
“The Olympics is just a whole other scale. You’re not representing just yourself — you’re representing Team USA, which holds a lot more. Having that experience helps.”
As for Milan bucket-list plans? “I love Milan — just walking around. I wanna go to some hockey games, and I’d love to go to a curling match,” he revealed.
This year’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final wasn’t just about medals. It was about survival, strategy, and next-level riding in some of the trickiest conditions Aspen has thrown at athletes in years. With awful conditions glooming over the course, McMorris rewrote his run mid-contest, Kleveland landed his first clean top-to-bottom run when it mattered most, and Gerard stayed focused on execution over placement in a field packed with threats trying to bounce him off the podium. It was one of the most memorable Slopestyle Finals in recent X Games history, and we cannot wait to see what 2027 will bring for these heavy hitters.
For more on Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle, make sure to watch our interviews with Mark, Marcus and Red below — and don’t forget to let us know what you think of their big wins by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sliding into our DMs on Instagram at @celebsecrets.
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For more coverage from X Games Aspen 2026, click here.
