CHECK OUT MY NEW WEB STORE WITH INVENTIONS: http://inventshop.si/ DAY 1. Records were decimated on Thursday at Winter X Games in Aspen as Tom Wallisch's gold medal Slopestyle run scored a 96.00 and Kaya Turski became the first woman to win three consecutive gold medals in Slopestyle. It was Wallisch's first Winter X Games medal and he was thrilled to win it "under the lights in primetime." Buttermilk Mountain hosted the first nighttime X Games Slopestyle competition under the lights. "I think it's going to open the sport up to a bigger audience," Wallisch said. His winning run featured an impressive wallride on the first feature that drew cheers from the audience below. Winter X Games rookie and the youngest Slopestyle competitor Nick Goepper, 17, scored 94.66 and took the silver. For the third-consecutive year, Norway's Andreas Håtveit grabbed the bronze. Earlier in the day, the women took to the 1,600-foot long course with six features, where Canada's Kaya Turski won the first gold of the Games and her third-consecutive gold in Women's Ski Slopestyle. In the past two X Games, Turski's final run had been a victory lap, but this year it all came down to that crucial third run, when Turski, who was in third-place after two runs, landed her switch 1080 off the final jump and scored a 95.00 to win it. Devin Logan, 18, scored a 92.33 and took silver. Australia's Anna Segal, who scored a 90.00 on her first run and led the competition through two rounds, grabbed the bronze. "I've never seen the level so high as I've seen it today," Turski said. "The switch 10 is definitely raising the bar, Anna (Segal) spinning both ways is raising the bar, Devin (Logan) getting inverted is as well, the level is getting really high, I'm just excited were pushing the sport." It's just as Sarah Burke would have wanted it. Prior to the men's Slopestyle Finals, X Games competitors and friends honored the fallen skier with a candlelit descent of her beloved X Games halfpipe, where she won four gold medals and was the first female skier to land a 720, 900 and 1080. Burke, a Canadian freeskiing icon, died last week in a Utah hospital nine days after an accident in the Park City halfpipe on January 10. Her parents and husband, skier Rory Bushfield, joined the massive crowd of friends and fans who gathered to celebrate Burke's life. DAY 2. It was a day of elimination on Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen on the second day of competition at Winter X Games 2012. Friday was the first day of ski SuperPipe competition and, under the lights on a cold, clear night, 16 skiers fought for the top eight slots to move to Saturday's finals. David Wise, who the Association of Freeskiing Professionals ranked fourth in the world in halfpipe after last season, qualified first, followed by Canadian Justin Dorey, who earned silver in the event at Winter X Europe in 2011. Aspen's hometown hero and 2011 Winter X Games silver medalist Torin Yater-Wallace qualified third. Tune in on Saturday to see if Frenchman Kevin Rolland can three-peat or if one of his seven rivals will take this year's title. Women's and men's Skier X qualifiers took place earlier in the day, where Norweigians Marte Gjefsen and Hedda Berntsen took first and third, respectively. Sanna Luedi of Switzerland finished in second. The women's field has been greatly reduced by injury this season. Favorite Ophelie David fractured her left fibula on the Skier X course on Wednesday, while defending champion Kelsey Serwa is hurt from a crash at a World Cup race in Alpe d'Huez, France earlier this month. Fellow Canadians Julia Murray and Ashleigh McIvor are also out with ACL injuries sustained earlier in the season. But the 28-deep men's field was fully intact as they battled for the top slots. Finland's Jouni Pellinen, Switzerland's Armin Niederer and Canadian Nik Zoricic took the top three qualifying spots. Those 18 skiers from Qualifying Run One advance to the Quarterfinal. The remaining 10 skiers race in Qualifying Run Two, where the top six skiers advance to the Quarterfinal. At X Games Skier X, six racers go head to head, whereas at traditional World Cup ski cross races, four athletes compete against each other, with the top two advancing from each round. Ski cross history has been made by ex-World Cup racers who joined the sport once their World Cup careers expired, but now, thanks in part to burgeoning junior programs around the world, the sport is growing in popularity on its own terms. Reigning world champion and X Games silver medalist Chris Del Bosco leads the Canadian team which includes 2010 X Games silver and bronze medalists Dave Duncan and Brady Leman. But 2011 X Games gold medalist John Teller from Mammoth Lakes, Calif. has said his goal this year is to make Winter X Games history by winning his second consecutive Skier X gold medal.
Visibility: 271234
Duration: 10m 10s
Rating: 490