The weekend of Jan. 21 to 23 marked the historic 25th edition of the Winter X Games. Remembered for new tricks and creative moves, the X Games are every extreme sport enthusiast’s favourite event of the year, and this year was no exception. Held at the Buttermilk ski resort in Aspen, Colorado, the Games ran just weeks before the 2022 Winter Olympics. While Olympic events have scoring breakdowns and are judged according to specific skill sets, the X Games have no such limits, providing seasoned and rookie athletes alike the chance to let loose in events with less stringent rules and more room for unfiltered imagination. For instance, snowboarding, an activity well known for its adrenaline rushes, saw some of its best and brightest carve out their slice of winter sports history.
Inaugurated in 2019, the Knuckle Huck event—where snowboarders “huck,” or launch, themselves over the “knuckle,” or side, of a hill—had fans watching Fridtjof Sæther Tischendorf, Tyler Nicholson, brothers Dusty and Dillon Henricksen, and others perform what seemed like gravity-defying jumps. With a 35-minute “jam session” format, where no points are scored and results are only revealed at the end, the Knuckle Huck marks athletes based on the swagger of their best jump.
Marcus Kleveland, after whom the event was inspired, took home the golden knuckle with a clean yet exhilarating front side cork, with Tischendorf coming second, and Dusty Henricksen taking home third.
Jaea Kleinberg, U2 Arts and an avid snowboarder herself, emphasized the creative opportunities afforded by the freestyle nature of the Knuckle Huck.
“While I do enjoy events such as Slopestyle, Big Air, and SuperPipe, the Knuckle Huck is definitely my favourite,” Kleinberg said. “It’s still a newer event, so it’s great to see the riders having fun and getting creative to impress the judges.”
Though the Knuckle Huck is arguably the event with the least rules, riders got to show off their skills in a variety of other competitions too. Starting the X Games this year was the women’s slopestyle, another 35-minute jam session where each rider performed moves over a series of railings followed by three possible jumps. This event featured familiar faces like Jamie Anderson, Anna Gasser, and Quebec’s own Laurie Blouin.
Kleinberg was happy to see Canadian female athletes represented at the Games this year.
“It’s particularly nice to see at least one Canadian rider in all the female snowboarding events,” Kleinberg said. “Being a female snowboarder myself, it’s great to see such powerful women representing their country at the X Games.”
Despite an initially rocky start and early fall, Anderson, who began this year’s Games with 19 medals under her belt, earned second place, adding yet another one to her collection. Anderson’s now-20 awards make her the most decorated woman in Winter X Games history. First place went to Zoi Sadowski-Synnott for her first run, where she landed a backside 1080 double cork with ease.
Blouin, who jumped, twisted, and landed her way to a third place podium finish in Women’s Slopestyle, was not the only Canadian snowboarder kicking up a snowstorm at the Games.
Indeed, Mark McMorris made a notorious comeback in the Men’s Slopestyle event, winning gold—his 21st X Games medal—and maintaining the record for most Winter X Games awards won. Marcus Kleveland and Sven Thorgren won second and third respectively. Last year, notable athletes like McMorris and Max Parrot withdrew from the X Games after contracting COVID-19, and it was refreshing to see them return.
“It’s always great to see such awesome Canadian riders like Darcy Sharpe, Laurie Blouin, Mark McMorris, Elizabeth Hosking, Tyler Nicholson, and Max Parrot competing,” Kleinberg said. “The Canadian spirit will hopefully remain high for this year’s X Games!”
