Superpipe and Big Air winners crowned at first X Games Oslo

The Snowboard SuperPipe competitions impressed the sold-out crowd of more than 5,000 fans at Winter Park, on the second day of competition from Oslo, Norway.
 
The youngest rider in the competition, Chloe Kim made history by winning her third consecutive gold medal and becoming the first athlete to win three medals before age 16. Coming off wins at X Games Aspen, the U.S. Grand Prix and the Youth Olympic Games, Kim again landed back-to-back 1080s en route to earning the highest score ever awarded to a woman at 98.00. Kelly Clark and Arielle Gold battled for the remaining podium spots, with Clark narrowly edging out Gold for silver with an 82.33.
 
In the Men’s competition, 17-year old Ayumu Hirano earned a spot in the history books as well, becoming the first Japanese snowboarder to earn a gold medal at an X Games winter event. After qualifying fifth, Hirano took an early lead and never looked back. Throwing a cab double cork 1440 on his first hit, Hirano made it clear he was in it to win it, going almost twice as high out of the pipe as several of his competitors. Iouri Podladtchikov, the top qualifier, earned his third silver medal and newcomer Chase Josey had an impressive showing to earn the bronze medal.

 
The Big Air event was enjoyed by a sell-out crowd of 15,000, plus 5,000 additional on the nearby public hill. They were treated to four progressive final competitions and three musical performances in a packed day three of X Games Oslo at the Tøyen Big Air venue.
 
This was the first Women’s Snowboard Big Air event since 2001. The first woman to drop in on the jump, Oslo local Cheryl Maas, earned her first medal in her tenth appearance at X Games with a Backside 900 Tail Grab. New Zealand’s Christy Prior took home second and Norwegian rider Kjersti Buaas took third with 720 variations.  
 
The evening concluded with the Men’s Snowboard Big Air competition where Yuki Kadono narrowly edged out X Games Aspen 2016 gold medalist Max Parrot for the top podium spot.  Kadono is fresh off an X Games Aspen 2016 bronze medal and a win at the Air + Style Los Angeles event. Both riders landed the Backside Triple Cork 1620 Mute Grab. Billy Morgan took the bronze podium spot with a Backside Triple Cork 1440 Nose Grab.
 

See more at www.xgames.com.

A huge well done and big thanks goes out to all the people involved in making this first ever X Games Oslo a spectacular success. It was well attended, super organised and a perfect way to showcase the top riders from across the sports. Looking forward to next year already!