ASPEN — California freeskier Maddie Bowman claimed her fourth consecutive gold medal in the Aspen X Games halfpipe Friday night.
With back-to-back 900s to start and a first-ever switch 900 to finish, the 22-year-old chased her thick braid as she whipped down the Buttermilk halfpipe.
Bowman, who had knee surgery in February last year and returned to competition last month, learned that switch 900 only two nights earlier during practice.
On her final run – a victory lap after she had already secured gold – Bowman threw the switch 900 again. With each spin down the pipe, Bowman improved her score, posting the three highest scores of the night.
“There are so many girls learning so many different tricks,” said Bowman. “It’s so cool to see it all come together in one event.”
Ayana Onzuka, who was the first woman from Japan to win a silver medal in the X Games in last year’s pipe contest, repeated her silver-medal performance Friday with a pair of 720s and a first-hit 540 that reached nearly 10 feet above the deck.
Annalisa Drew also spun a pair of 900s on her first two hits and delivered the contest’s only alley-oop flat spin to land bronze, her first-ever X Games medal.
“This is the greatest feeling in the world,” Drew said. “This is where it started. This is what freeskiing is about.”
The competition schedule for the 2016 Aspen Winter X Games at Buttermilk Mountain:
Saturday
11 a.m. Mono skier X finals
Noon Men’s snowboard slopestyle final
2 p.m. Men’s and women’s skier X heats, semifinals and finals
6:15 p.m. Men’s snowboard superpipe final
8:15 p.m. Ski big air final
Sunday
10 a.m. Men’s ski slopestyle final
10 a.m. Snowboarder adaptive X semifinals and final
Noon Men’s and women’s snowboarder heats, semifinals and finals
1:45 p.m. Women’s snowboard superpipe final
