ASPEN – What a night under the lights at Buttermilk Ski Area it’ll be for five American halfpipe snowboarders trying to tackle the sport’s contemporary Australian superstar.
After qualifying through in the last spot, Longmont native and Dillon resident Chase Blackwell will be the first snowboarder to drop into the X Games Aspen superpipe for Thursday evening’s main event, the eight-rider men’s snowboard superpipe final (8 p.m. MST, ESPN).
Achieving a childhood dream, the 20-year-old Blackwell will be followed by his good friend and rising teen American halfpipe star Toby Miller, the second snowboarder to drop in. Then American veterans Chase Josey of Idaho and Steamboat Springs native and Breckenridge resident Taylor Gold will take to the course. Back from injuries, Gold is riding high after finishing on a podium for the first time at a World Cup event in five years last weekend in Laax, Switzerland.
Swedish star and the top scorer from Wednesday’s elimination round, Jan Scherrer, will also be competing, as will last year’s podium placers: American star Danny Davis, Japanese teen phenom Yuto Totsuka and the unquestioned champion of snowboard halfpipe at the moment: Australian star Scotty James.
James hasn’t lost a halfpipe competition since the 2018 Olympics, including victory at the Copper Mountain Grand Prix last month and wins at the Burton U.S. Open, Dew Tour and X Games last year.
But with a new format in place for this year’s superpipe competition – a 30-minute jam scored on “overall impression” – it’s worth asking: can anyone best Scotty? Tune in to find out, and to see how Chase and Taylor ride in the limelight.
Competition previews:
More X Games coverage:
The lead-up to X Games: