X Games Aspen 2024 Day 3 Recap January 28, 2024 Celeb Secrets

The third and final day of X Games Aspen 2024 came to a close with stories of redemption for hometown heroes Red Gerard (USA) in the Monster Energy Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle final and Alex Ferreira (USA) in the Chipotle Men’s Ski SuperPipe final who each took home the gold.

The heat was on in the early afternoon thanks to a heavy hitting line-up of the most decorated medalists in the highly-anticipated Monster Energy Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle final. Featuring several Big Air crossover athletes from just 15 hours prior, the competition opened up to perfect conditions and performances which judges deemed as “splitting hairs” for the world’s best who exceeded expectations with their level of creativity, innovation, difficulty and progression.

Silverthorne’s Red Gerard (USA) became the new king of slopestyle when he was crowned the champion over Mark McMorris (CAN), the winningest X Games winter medalist with 23 total medals. On a mission from the start, both Gerard and McMorris were equally perfect in the rail section but the differentiator came down to the last hit when the competitors were judged on Gerard’s flawless 1800 and McMorris’ perfect 1620.

“Oh man, it’s everything. I grew up watching these contests like X Games and Dew Tour and U.S. Open. To have a gold here means everything to me, and to do it with Mark McMorris, the man over there, the best snowboarder in the world, and just to land three runs, today was just perfect and I’m just so happy. I love you guys! Thank you, Aspen!” said an elated Gerard.

Mons Røisland, celebrating his 27th birthday today, took third place.

Coming off a gold medal from last night’s Women’s Big Air final, France’s Tess Ledeux laid down what was arguably the most flawless run in women’s slopestyle history, setting the record of being the first skier to win double gold twice at X Games (2022, 2024). Collecting her 10th medal today, Ledeux also tied Kelly Sildaru for the most X Games women’s ski medal count.

Showing off her rail prowess up top followed by solid two jumps, Ledeux also became the first woman to do a double cork 1260 and double cork 1440 back-to-back in a snowboard or ski contest – making her untouchable for the rest of the competition.

A clearly emotional Ledeux wiping tears said, “I can’t believe I just landed my biggest and best run ever in slopestyle. I feel so grateful for everything and I’m so proud of this!”

After finishing off the podium in the Big Air competition last night, Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud used her frustration as motivation in today’s final. Gremaud has been at the top of her game all season and has podiumed in five of five World Cups between slopestyle and big air, and recently won slopestyle at the January 2024 World Cup in Laax. The Swiss skier has Olympic gold in slopestyle from the 2022 Beijing Games, and today earned her fourth silver medal at the X Games. Fellow swiss competitor Giulia Tanno, who is one of the only women pulling off a double cork 1080, rounded out the podium in third.

For the first time since 2020, Aspen native Alex Ferreira (USA) reclaimed his place on top of the podium for the first time in a redemption performance that dazzled his hometown. This season, Ferreira has come back strong, winning the first two FIS World Cup pipe competitions of the season and shows no signs of stopping. After delivering an impressive run in his first attempt, Ferreira proclaimed to the fans, ”I’m here for redemption…I want it!” To put a stamp on his win, he launched 17 feet and 6 inches out of the pipe, threw four-way double cork variations and the hardest trick of the night – a crowd-pleasing 1620 – in what was called the most technical run ever seen at an X Games Ski Superpipe competition.

“This is the sweetest redemption I’ve ever had,” said Ferreira. “It feels amazing to do this in front of my hometown of Aspen, the crowd pops off. I know all the kids in the crowd. I know a lot of the adults and I ski with them at that ski club and to feel that love to feel that they want me to succeed is unbelievable, it’s electric and energetic, it’s fantastic.”

Other memorable moments included the debut of four-time X Games slopestyle gold medalist Nick Goepper (USA) who came out of a brief retirement to compete in his superpipe debut at age 29, making him the oldest first-time ski or snowboard superpipe athlete in X Games history.

Nico Porteous (NZL) took a unique and playful approach in his runs, carving back up the same side of the pipe for a never-been-done trick to challenge the podium and earn extra creativity points. He took second position while Hunter Hess (USA) took the bronze.

Pacifico Women’s Snowboard Big Air Anchoring the X Games weekend was a showdown that resulted in multiple triple cork variations, including Kokomo Murase’s (JPN) 1440 triple cork in women’s snowboarding – putting her 19 points ahead of the next-closest competitor. Murase’s gold in Big Air was her third for the weekend, following a silver in Slopestyle and gold in Knuckle Huck.

Japan’s Reira Iwabuchi snagged the silver medal adding to her hardware collection for five total medals, while four-time X Games gold medalist Anna Gasser (GER), who pioneered the first triple corks in women’s snowboarding, finished in third.

With X Games Aspen 2024 officially coming to a close, fans can look forward to X Games Ventura later this June, where the biggest athletes in skateboarding, BMX and Moto will head to the sunny beaches of Southern California for three days of world-class competitions.

For more coverage from X Games Aspen 2024, click here. 

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