Winter X Games 2023: Aspen Dates, TV Schedule, Live Stream, Athletes, Event Info
On January 27, X Games Aspen 2023 kicks off, ushering in the action sports competition's first year under new ownership.
The event, which has been hosted in Aspen since 2002, will still be broadcast live on ESPN and ABC. But ESPN sold a majority stake in the event to private equity firm MSP Sports Capital in October. This year, simulcasts on Twitch and YouTube, as well as social media content, will be as much of a focus as the live broadcast.
Shaun White and Chloe Kim may not be in attendance in 2023, but there are plenty of exciting athletes to watch at Buttermilk this year. Some are still basking in the glow of Olympic medals from the Beijing 2022 games this past February; others are looking for their first X Games medals.
In exciting news for 2023, Selema Masekela, who hosted X Games for 13 years between 2000 and 2013, is making his return to anchor this year's broadcast, as well as serve as a consulting producer.
The free event will see fans return for the second year after on-site spectators were scrapped during 2021 for the pandemic. And the music festival portion of X Games, normally a ticketed event, will be free in 2023 as well. Musical performances will include Kaskade, Yung Gravy, Night Tales, MOD SUN, MADDS and girlfriends.
Let's take a closer look at which athletes you should keep an eye out for this weekend, as well as how and when to tune in to the ski and snowboard events throughout the three-day competition.
How to Watch X Games Aspen
X Games Aspen 2023 Tune-In Details
When: January 27-29
Where: Buttermilk Mountain, Aspen, Colorado
TV: ESPN, ABC
Live Stream: XGames digital channels
X Games Aspen 2023 Telecast Schedule
Friday, Jan. 27
9:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. ET on ESPN
Ski Knuckle Huck, Men's Snowboard SuperPipe, Women's Ski Big Air (Encore)
Saturday Jan. 28
12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET on ABC
Men's Ski Slopestyle, Women's Snowboard Slopestyle (encore)
10:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. ET on ESPN
Men's Snowboard Big Air, Women's Snowboard Big Air (encore), Women's Ski SuperPipe (encore)
Sunday Jan. 29
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET on ABC
Women's Ski Slopestyle, Women's Snowboard SuperPipe (encore), Special Olympics Highlight (encore)
6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
Snowboard Knuckle Huck, Men's Ski Big Air, Men's Ski SuperPipe
Athletes to Watch
Shaun White is retired. Chloe Kim is taking the year off from competitive snowboarding. Jamie Anderson is preparing to have a baby.
But there are plenty of big names in Aspen this weekend, including Mark McMorris, Marcus Kleveland, Anna Gasser, Scotty James, Eileen Gu, David Wise and many more.
There are plenty of big storylines to follow, too. At X Games Aspen 2022, Canada's McMorris earned his sixth career slopestyle gold, surpassing Shaun White for the most ever at X Games.
He also tied Anderson for the most Winter X Games medals, and with multiple chances between slopestyle and big air, he'll have an opportunity to exclusively claim that distinction this weekend.
Don't miss your chance to catch arguably the best all-around female snowboarder today, New Zealander Zoi Sadowski-Synnott. She'll be defending her gold in slopestyle from X Games Aspen 2022, where she became the first woman (skier or snowboarder) to land back-to-back double corks. At the Beijing Games, she became the first Winter Olympic gold medalist from New Zealand when she took slopestyle gold.
Japan's Ayumu Hirano will be bringing the heat in the halfpipe, signaling the established veterans in Scotty James and Yuto Totsuka to move over.
He landed the first-ever triple (three off-axis flips, while also spinning multiple 360-degree rotations) in snowboarding at Dew Tour in 2021, then brought it to the Olympics for the first time ever in Beijing in February 2022, winning gold.
Speaking of gold, expect freestyle skier Eileen Gu to be claiming a lot of those. She's the favorite to win gold in three events at X Games Aspen 2023 (ski halfpipe, ski slopestyle and ski big air), which would make her the first in Winter X Games history.
In her X Games debut in 2021, she landed on the podium in all three events, taking gold in all but big air.
One of the biggest U.S. names at X Games Aspen this year will be Red Gerard, who captured Americans' hearts at the Pyeongchang 2018 Games when he took slopestyle gold at age 17 to become the youngest-ever Olympic snowboarding gold medalist. Gerard finished just off the podium at the Beijing Games in February and will be looking to prove he's still on top in his discipline.
Let's take a look at the athletes most likely to find themselves on the podium this weekend.
Typically (though not exclusively), the skiers and snowboarders to watch in slopestyle are the same to watch in big air, which is why they aren't listed separately.
Men's Snowboard Slopestyle
Mark McMorris (Canada), Marcus Kleveland (Norway), Su Yiming (China), Red Gerard (U.S.)
Women's Snowboard Slopestyle
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (New Zealand), Reira Iwabuchi (Japan), Anna Gasser (Austria), Tess Coady (Australia)
Men's Snowboard SuperPipe
Scotty James (Australia), Ayumu Hirano (Japan), Jan Scherrer (Switzerland), Yuto Totsuka (Japan)
Women's Snowboard SuperPipe
Queralt Castellet (Spain), Mitsuki Ono (Japan), Ruki Tomita (Japan), Elizabeth Hosking (Canada)
Men's Ski Slopestyle
Alex Hall (U.S.), Jesper Tjäder (Sweden), Andri Ragettli (Switzerland), Birk Ruud (Norway)
Women's Ski Slopestyle
Eileen Gu (China), Mathilde Gremaud (Switzerland), Kelly Sildaru (Estonia), Maggie Voisin (U.S.)
Men's Ski SuperPipe
David Wise (U.S.), Alex Ferreira (U.S.), Noah Bowman (Canada), Birk Irving (U.S.)
Women's Ski SuperPipe
Eileen Gu, Cassie Sharpe (Canada), Rachael Karker (Canada), Kelly Sildaru