{"id":803382,"date":"2020-01-23T10:24:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T17:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/jack-mitrani-back-for-fourth-year-as-x-games-aspen-host\/"},"modified":"2020-01-23T10:24:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-23T17:24:00","slug":"jack-mitrani-back-for-fourth-year-as-x-games-aspen-host","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/jack-mitrani-back-for-fourth-year-as-x-games-aspen-host\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Mitrani back for fourth year as X Games Aspen host"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
X Games host Jack Mitrani looks out over the features on Buttermilk Mountain from the VIP tower while ski slopestyle practice ensues on Tuesday, Jan. 21.<\/strong>
Kelsey Brunner \/ The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Entering his fourth season as the host of X Games Aspen, former pro snowboarder Jack Mitrani promises he is just as nervous as he was when he took over as the face of ESPN\u2019s iconic winter sports competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing has changed. I still come in here the same way I did four years ago. I research as much as I can and then just fly on the seat of my pants,\u201d Mitrani said. \u201cI just prepare as much as I can and when I get here it\u2019s just one thing at a time. I\u2019m definitely not more comfortable or less nervous or anything \u2014 maybe more grateful every year. I\u2019m still pinching myself that I get to call this my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitrani sat down with The Aspen Times on Tuesday at Buttermilk Ski Area to discuss this year\u2019s event, which officially kicks off Thursday. X Games Aspen 2020 will be notable for who is not here as much as anything, as well as the changes in competition format \u2014 and new competitions as a whole \u2014 that will be apparent across the board.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some of what Mitrani had to say:<\/p>\n

NEW WAYS TO SHRED<\/p>\n

There are three new events at X Games this winter: a snowboard superpipe session, a rail jam and ski knuckle huck, which follows on the footsteps of snowboard knuckle huck, which made its debut in 2019. Not only that, some of the main competitions, notably those in the superpipe, will move toward a continuous jam session format this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it comes down to is people just want action. They don\u2019t want to wait for scores and wait around; they want to turn on the TV and see run after run after run,\u201d Mitrani said. \u201cWe will also see a lot more diversity within the runs. It\u2019s not going to be the same run every time. Every time they are going to try and mix it up, because it\u2019s overall impression. So it\u2019s going to be more entertaining to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitrani said both snowboarding and freeskiing are shifting in some ways, where bigger, scarier tricks are no longer preferred. Instead, it\u2019s about events like knuckle huck where style and creativity is awarded over simply getting massive hang time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe superpipe session is like a tribute to where superpipe came from, more about style and creativity and just innovating in a different way. You might see a triple cork, you may see a hand plant to a double cork, a slash \u2014 it\u2019s just going to be fun,\u201d Mitrani said. \u201cIt\u2019s an expression session. I think that\u2019s where the new direction of all action sports is going, which we learned last year with knuckle huck. It was one of the most popular events, and the least gnarly, should you say? It was just fun and I think people are gravitating more toward fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s snowboard superpipe contest will be 8 p.m. Thursday, the first night of competition. The new snowboard superpipe session will be 9:30 p.m. Friday, with both contests featuring some of the best athletes in the world, such as Scotty James, Yuto Totsuka and the ever-popular Danny Davis, one of Mitrani\u2019s close friends.<\/p>\n

The rail jam is 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Athletes will take to the rails on the slopestyle course without having to deal with the jumps in a throwback to some of snowboarding\u2019s roots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith only having attention on the rails, the level is just going to sky rocket,\u201d Mitrani said. \u201cI\u2019m so excited. It\u2019s just been way too long for a rail jam. It\u2019ll be nice because during slopestyle, when all these guys hit the rail, they have to focus on the jumps. They don\u2019t want to fall on the rails. Now they just solely focus on the rails.\u201d<\/p>\n

ASPEN\u2019S MAYOR<\/p>\n

Mitrani came to Aspen earlier in the season to film a small segment with Alex Ferreira, the Aspen native who won his first X Games gold medal last winter in halfpipe skiing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just cool to see him in his element. He\u2019s such a good kid and deserves all the success that he\u2019s built,\u201d Mitrani said. \u201cThere is nothing better than to come to Aspen and have pretty much the mayor, Alex Ferreira, take you around Ajax, show you all the secret spots, have his mom cook you a delicious breakfast. We were pretty spoiled that day. It was fun. Felt like royalty.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are Ferreira\u2019s chances of repeating as champion Sunday night when the men\u2019s ski superpipe contest goes down? Pretty good, Mitrani says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got my money on Alex,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve heard he\u2019s working on some new tricks, too. I think he\u2019s going to rise to the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

YOUTH TAKEOVER<\/p>\n

There have been some significant names to retire in recent years, notably halfpipe legends Kelly Clark and Maddie Bowman, the latter of whom only announced her retirement Monday. No worries, says Mitrani, as the young talent coming up is truly special, with Estonian teen Kelly Sildaru, a seven-time X Games medalist, being the first on Mitrani\u2019s tongue.<\/p>\n

\u201cAthletes with such strong legacies finally get to that point where they pass on the torch to the youth. It\u2019s a beautiful thing to witness. I had to do it myself at one point,\u201d Mitrani said.<\/p>\n

FEELING THE PRESSURE<\/p>\n

Mitrani isn\u2019t just here to talk shop. As he\u2019s done in the past, Mitrani will be one of the professionals to take part in Thursday morning\u2019s Special Olympics Unified snowboard and ski races. He said he\u2019s been partnered with athlete Henry Meece, himself a legend in the event with multiple wins.<\/p>\n

Aspen\u2019s Chris Klug, who won Olympic bronze as an alpine snowboarder, has often been paired with Meece in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pressure is really on,\u201d Mitrani said. \u201cI actually hit up Chris on Instagram and I was like, \u2018Hey, do you know any places in town to get my board tuned up?\u2019 No response. True competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

FATHER-DAUGHTER TIME<\/p>\n

Mitrani, who lives in Vermont with his fianc\u00e9e, recently became a father. His daughter, Willa Rose Mitrani, was born in November and will make her X Games debut this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely a life changer,\u201d Mitrani said. \u201cAbout two and a half months in. Probably one of the most rewarding things that\u2019s ever happened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

X Games host Jack Mitrani looks out over the features on Buttermilk Mountain from the VIP tower while ski slopestyle practice ensues on Tuesday, Jan. 21.Kelsey Brunner \/ The Aspen Times Entering his fourth season as the host of X Games Aspen, former pro snowboarder Jack Mitrani promises he is just as nervous as he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-803382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-24 22:53:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}