New Zealand’s elite snow sports athletes delivered some riveting performances at Aspen’s X Games today.
Luca Harrington (21) set the bar, landing Men’s Ski Slopestyle gold in the first event of the day, handling competition delays and tough conditions to thrill with a performance that left nothing on the table.
Harrington, the defending champion from 2025 having come in as an alternate, went into the lead at the end of round one, landing two triples off the bat. Momentarily dropping off the leaderboard, he then scored a 94.33 to scoop the gold in round two. Only two skiers prior have won back to back golds in the event.
Snow Sports NZ Head Coach High Performance Park & Pipe Tom Willmott said Aspen today was a struggle on many fronts with fresh snow, a slow course and multiple delays.
“Luca kept in the hunt, made the most of training, and just smashed it scoring the highest in the first run, getting bumped down as conditions improved, only to step right up in his second run to claim the title going back-to-back following his win as a rookie last year.”
Sadowski-Synnott had a fantastic Snowboard Big Air final going almost orbital with her second run backside triple 1440 scoring a 94.66, yet was bested in an extraordinary show by Cocomo Murase who landed a never-been-done backside triple cork 1620 to win the gold with a score of 96.66. Sadowski-Synnott heads off now with the rest of her NZ team mates to rest and prepare for Milano Cortina.
Willmott said: “Zoi landed a flawless back triple 14 first run and was able to improve on the second. Given she has been out of action for a while, it was incredible (although true to form) for her to build right back to her best level of riding.”
Inspired perhaps by Luca and Zoi, Rocco Jamieson (19) set out from the start to podium in Men’s Snowboard Big Air, saving the best for last across his three runs, and landing a backside 2160 to score 90.66 and a silver medal.
“Rocco has been gunning for the back 21 for a while but this was his first opportunity to land this behemoth of a trick on snow,” said Willmott.
To wrap the day, Cam Melville Ives (19), fresh off his silver at the FIS World Cup in Laax, once again came up against the legendary Scotty James. Unable to draw on one of his best performances, he missed podium, but has plenty in his kit bag to take into Milano.
“Cam had prepared well and went all in with some stiff competition but just couldn’t land his first trick cab triple,” Willmott said.
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