The courses are set. The athletes and cameras are ready. Fire up the circus.
Aspen’s 11th dalliance with the Winter X Games begins Thursday with a tighter focus on Olympic sports: 12 of the 17 Winter X 2012 events will be featured the 2014 Sochi Olympics. With immediate and long-term glory on the line, winter sports’ most acclaimed athletes are girding for skiing and snowboarding’s most audacious battles with gravity.
Many of the athletes will compete this week with a heavy heart after the death last week of women’s ski superpipe pioneer Sarah Burke.
Last year’s winner and five-time X Games pipe medalist, the Canadian freeskier died Jan. 19, nine days after she crashed while training in Park City’s pipe.
Burke, who boisterously lobbied for her sport’s inclusion in the 2014 Winter Games and fought for equal cash purses for women in X Games contests, forever will be a part of all women’s pipe contests.
Expect numerous tributes this weekend to Burke, whose smiling face and positive attitude surely will be missed.
Just the Facts
Denver Post staff writers Jason Blevins and David Krause break down this year’s Winter X Games event by event:
SLOPESTYLE
Freshly introduced into the Winter Olympics, the spinning athletes of slopestyle will be floating during prime time over a course riddled with more jumps. Starting with a 25-foot wall ride, then a jib over a Jeep, the slopestyle skiers and snowboarders will race into four monster jumps, culminating with the 80-foot Money Booter.
Women’s ski
• Schedule: Finals 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
• Remember 2011: Canadian Kaya Turski owns the highest skier score (96.66) logged on a Winter X slopestyle course to go with her 2010 gold.
• Who to watch: Turski again is heavily favored, fresh off a gold medal in last week’s Killington Dew Tour.
Men’s ski
• Schedule: Elimination 10:30 a.m. Thursday; finals 7:45 p.m. Thursday.
Flying for the first time in WX history under 330,000 watts of light, the prime-time competition will likely see first-ever trickery.
• Remember 2011: Last year’s winner, three-time medalist and rail technician Sammy Carlson, is on a streak and looking to continue his dominance.
• Who to watch: Norwegian Andreas Hatveit — also a three time slopestyle Winter X medalist — will be battling alongside Tom Wallisch, Denver’s Bobby Brown and New Zealand superstar Jossi Wells. Will we see the super-spinny 1620 off the Money Booter?
Men’s snowboard
• Schedule: Elimination 10:30 a.m. Friday; finals 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
• Remember 2011: French Canadian X Games rookie Sebastien Toutant (he goes by Seb Toots) crushed first-timer jitters with the highest score ever recorded in snowboarding slopestyle X Games competition.
• Who to watch: Toutant is still on a tear, with a bag of tricks that includes a triple-cork backside 1440. But then Canadian teen Mark McMorris and Norwegian Torstein Horgmo nailed that same trick last spring.
Women’s snowboard
• Schedule: Finals 1:30 p.m. Friday.
• Remember 2011: Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi will be out to prove her 2011 gold was no fluke, and the buoyant Britain Jenny Jones could uncork her powerful 900 to move past last year’s silver.
• Who to watch: California’s Jamie Anderson, with five slopestyle medals, is in the crosshairs again, with a host of up-and-comers targeting the 21-year-old slopestyle veteran.
SUPERPIPE
Hailed as one of the best pipes in the world, the Buttermilk superpipe has remained the same for the last three years, with 22-foot walls flanking a 66-foot-wide pipe. At 567 feet long, the pipe should enable skiers and snowboarders to glean up to seven hits on each run.
Men’s ski
• Schedule: Elimination: 6:30 p.m. Friday; finals: 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
• Remember 2011: Will Kevin Rolland — last year’s champion — or French teammate Xavier Bertoni repeat gold-medal performances? Can Aspen teen phenom Torin Yater-Wallace find his gold, or how about Breckenridge’s subtle and stylish Duncan Adams, who has spent too long lingering in fourth place? With the Sochi show looming in two years, this year’s X Games medalists will be 2014’s Olympians.
• Who to watch: Adams, whose lofty grabs and casual technique defies the tired spin-to-win approach, find his first X Games podium Saturday.
Women’s ski
• Schedule: Finals 11 a.m. Saturday.
• Remember 2011: Sarah Burke stomped back-to-back flares, a 900 and a corked 720 to set the gold standard, just as she did in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
• Who to watch: This event will be wrought with pain, tears and hugs. Burke, last year’s winner and five-time X Games pipe medalist, died Jan. 19, nine days after she crashed while training in Park City’s pipe. The dark cloud of Burke’s absence from a venue she owned will likely eclipse the action.
Men’s snowboard
• Schedule: Elimination 12:15 p.m. Sunday; finals 7:45 p.m. Sunday.
• Remember 2011: Shaun White stormed down the pipe, unleashing a nearly 20-foot air and his Olympic gold double McTwist 1260, earning the master the same score that won him gold in the 2010 X Games, the highest score of any X Games pipe competition.
• Who to watch: As usual, the ever-hungry Scotty Lago, Louie Vito and Danny Davis will be looking to dethrone the king. White, who also is competing in this year’s slopestyle contest, for which he failed to qualify last year, has won 15 Winter X medals, 10 of them gold.
Women’s snowboard
• Schedule: Finals 9 p.m. Friday.
• Remember 2011: Kelly Clark soared to gold with the first 1080 by a female boarder in the pipe. But the four-time X Games gold medalist, Aspen’s darling Gretchen Bleiler, has back-to-back 900s and new corked tricks to unveil under Friday night’s lights.
• Who to watch: Clark owns the event. After winning her last 12 contests, it’s hers to lose, even though five of her seven competitors have X Games superpipe medals. And never count out Australia’s Torah Bright, who hasn’t been on the pipe circuit since winning gold in the 2010 Winter Games.
CROSSEVENTS
This year’s course will be much like 2011, going 4,600 feet. The start gates are suspended, and racers will drop 14 feet. The bigger features include 13-foot banked turns, and the finish-line jump features three takeoffs for 50-, 65- and 80-foot options.
Men’s ski
• Schedule: Elimination: 11:30 a.m. Friday; Finals: noon Sunday.
• Remember 2011: Vail’s Chris Del Bosco, who races for Canada, had the fastest times all week in the eliminations, but in the finals, John Teller of California shot past Del Bosco on a banked turn and then held on to win by half a ski length. No racer has won gold and defended the next season.
• Who to watch: This year should be a complete field. Last year, the Austrian and Swiss teams opted for a World Cup race in Germany. The FIS does not have an event this weekend. Swiss racer Alex Fiva won the World Cup event Jan. 15 in France.
Women’s ski
• Schedule: Elimination 11:30 a.m. Friday; finals noon Sunday.
• Remember 2011: France’s Ophelie David lost out on her shot at her fifth consecutive gold when Kelsey Serwa went flying past her on the final jump and into a big crash that bloodied David’s face.
• Who to watch: Should be David’s gold to lose. Injuries this year have thinned the field. Serwa was injured last week in a World Cup event, and 2010 Olympic champion Ashleigh McIvor and Canadian teammate Julia Murray are out with ACL injuries.
Men’s snowboard
• Schedule: Elimination 2 p.m. Friday; finals 2 p.m. Saturday.
• Remember 2011: Nate Holland’s streak of six consecutive X Games golds came to an end when he finished third, losing to Nick Baumgartner of Michigan. Holland traded barbs after the finals with Pierre Vaultier, who took exception to Holland’s racing in the finals. Baumgartner was racing just two weeks after surgery to repair a shoulder he injured during a training run at Copper Mountain.
• Who to watch: Holland is back in form and comes into this week riding a wave. He won the World Cup event Sunday in Veysonnaz, Switzerland, and leads the overall Cup rankings ahead of Vaultier. Baumgartner is 10th in the Cup standings.
Women’s snowboard
• Schedule: Elimination 2 p.m. Friday; finals 2 p.m. Saturday.
• Remember 2011: Lindsey Jacobellis had an easy route to her seventh gold in nine years. She was well ahead at the start and didn’t have any threats in the finals. Callan Chythlook-Sifsof of Alaska won her first X Games medal, taking silver.
• Who to watch: Jacobellis continues her reign in the sport, and it doesn’t look like she will be knocked off anytime soon. She is well ahead of the field in the World Cup rankings this season.
Monoski
• Schedule: Elimination: 9:30 a.m. Saturday; finals: 2:45 p.m. Sunday.
• Remember 2011: Three-time gold medalist Tyler Walker was eliminated in the semifinals, opening the way for Canadian Josh Dueck to cruise to the gold after two racers struggled out of the start gate in the finals. Brandon Adam, who trained in Aspen, crashed on the final jump and slid across the finish line to claim silver.
• Who to watch: It’s always interesting to see who shows up each year for one of the most challenging events of the weekend.
Adaptive snowboard
• Schedule: 3:30 p.m. Friday
This new event is an exhibition event this year.
SNOWMOBILE
There are just two sled events this year as speed-and-style events and the snowcross have been taken off the schedule.
Freestyle and best trick
• Schedule: Freestyle final 7 p.m. Thursday; best trick final 7 p.m. Sunday.
• Remember 2011: Daniel Bodin dominated the jumps last year, winning gold in freestyle and best trick. On his second run in the freestyle, he won with a double grap backflip — while upside down, he let go and grabbed the seat holds with both legs fully extended off the back of the sled. It had never been done on a snowmobile. Levi LaVallee, he of the double backflip, did not compete last year because of injury.
• Who to watch: Brothers Caleb and Colten Moore burst onto the scene with a highlight-reel moment when they did a two-man backflip with Colten riding on Caleb’s sled.
SNOWBOARD STREET
A showoff session featuring urban-inspired features.
• Schedule: Finals: 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
• Remember 2011: New to XG last year, the street event was a jam session on a variety of rails and was won by Canadian Nic Sauve. The inaugural event was swept by Canadians.
• Who to watch: Could be more of the same in this event, which features staircase railings, a box rail or an oversized yellow rail.
BIG AIR
The big air goes off an 80-foot jump, built specifically with triple-corks in mind. The jump has been moved back to the skier’s right of the superpipe, near the bottom of the slopestyle course.
Snowboard
• Schedule: Finals 8:30 p.m. Friday.
• Remember 2011: Torstein Horgmo’s determination could not be denied as the Norwegian finally landed a triple-cork on his third try to win the gold. He did it with broken ribs. There was word he suffered a concussion on one of his two failed attempts.
• Who to watch: Montreal teenager Sebastien Toutant was a close second to Horgmo last year and should be up for another challenge.
Ski
• Schedule: Finals 6:45 p.m. Saturday.
• Remember 2011: Denver’s Bobby Brown, who won the event in 2010 to burst onto the X Games scene, was injured in the 2011 slopestyle and finished second in the big air to rookie Alex Schlopy of Park City, Utah. Schlopy won with a trick he never had performed, which is usually what wins these events.
• Who to watch: Brown gets the eye of the locals, but there are plenty who could again keep him from the top spot, including Sammy Carlson, who was third last year.
