Snowboarding

The 2014 Winter Olympics may be just around the corner, but for the snowboarding world there is a very important pit stop before Sochi. 

That pit stop is the 19th edition of the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo. Unfortunately, the X Games will not feature the biggest name in snowboarding in Shaun White, after he elected to back out of competition in the Snowboard SuperPipe and Snowboard Slopestyle to focus on the upcoming Olympics.

It certainly wasn’t an easy decision for White, who has fought through ankle and shoulder injuries during Olympic qualifying events, as he told Colin Bane of ESPN:

I've been competing in the X Games since I was 13 years old, they are a huge part of why I am where I am and they are vital to the sport. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the mountain and looked over the schedule, I knew I wasn't going to be able to complete the kind of training I know I need in order to prepare for Sochi. It's an incredibly tough decision for me and it's not something I take lightly, especially as ESPN has always been a great supporter, but I have to make sure I'm prepared for the Olympics.

White or not, the X Games must go on. Here is the schedule, highlighting Day 2 of the competitions:

Where: Buttermilk Mountain, Aspen, Colo.

When: Thursday, Jan. 23, to Sunday, Jan. 26

Watch: ABC, ESPN and ESPN3 

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Date	Time	Event	TV
Jan. 24	12:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. ET	Men's and Women's Boarder X Final	ESPN 3
Jan. 24	12:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. ET	Men's Ski SlopeStyle Elimination	ESPN 3
Jan. 24	7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. ET	Women's Ski SuperPipe Final	ESPN 3
Jan. 24	9 p.m. - 12 a.m. ET	America's Navy Snowboard Big Air Final	ESPN 3
Jan. 24	9 p.m. - 12 a.m. ET	Men's Ski SuperPipe Final	ESPN 3
Jan. 24	10:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. ET	America's Navy Snowboard Big Air Final	ESPN/WatchESPN
Jan. 24	10:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. ET	Men's Ski SuperPipe Final	ESPN/WatchESPN

Day 2 is loaded with medal events, including the Snowboard Big Air final and the men’s and women’s Ski SuperPipe finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJsNnSp3LxM

The name to watch on the men’s side is David Wise, who qualified first in the Ski SuperPipe eliminations with a vast array of tricks and impressive air time. However, it is much more than just his formidable qualifying run that makes Wise the main attraction.

The 23-year-old won the gold medal at the 2012 and 2013 X Games in Aspen in Ski SuperPipe and is well on his way to defending his medals.

It was Maddie Bowman who won gold in Aspen in the 2013 X Games for women’s Ski SuperPipe and, much like Wise, will seek to defend her crown. She won silver in 2012 and will look to continue her momentum going forward.

Day 2 will also feature the men’s and women’s Boarder X Finals in the early events. What is notable about the Boarder X is the fierce rivalry between Nate Holland and Seth Wescott.

Holland’s resume is more than impressive. He won gold in the Snowboarder X competitions at the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 X Games, while taking home the bronze in the 2011 X Games. He may be 35 years old, but it will take an incredible performance to take down Holland, who has built something of a personal dynasty in this event.

Wescott doesn’t have the gold medals that Holland does, but he did win the silver in the 2004, 2005 and 2010 competitions and the bronze in 2007.

These two friends and veterans will square off in what could be the tightest competition in all of Day 2.

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If you think earning a spot on the eight-person Olympic snowboarding team sounds difficult, try doing it with your brother or sister. 

The Golds, Taylor and Arielle, will join the U.S. half-pipe team headed to the Sochi Olympics next month after earning their spots via the last of five Olympic qualifying events over the weekend.

For the Golds, achieving that old-fashioned dream of representing their country at the Olympics was an endeavor participated in by the entire family. Taylor, 20, and Arielle, 17, along with their parents Ken and Patty, are America’s first family of snowboarders.

It all started with Taylor, the brother of the duo.

Taylor told NPR’s Sam H. Sanders he remembered the very moment he first wanted to become a snowboarder. Taylor was just seven years old when he started the journey:

I watched the Olympics in 2002. And I saw, you know, the men sweep the podium that year. And I was like, 'Oh my God, that looks so fun.' So, that year I asked my parents if I could take some snowboarding lessons, and it kind of just, like, snowballed from there. No pun intended.

Inspired by her elder brother, sister Arielle started snowboarding when she was only seven years old, too. But for Arielle, a dreamer who enjoyed spending more time tending to her horses than gliding up and down the half-pipe, snowboarding was just for fun.

“For me I'd say things didn't really start to get serious until probably two years ago,” Arielle told Sanders. “That's when I kind of started to realize that I could make something out of this, and I guess potentially go to the Olympics."

Despite their differing starts, both have settled into similar attitudes regarding the sport. While each takes the sport seriously by dedicating long hours to honing their chosen craft, Taylor and Arielle focus less on accolades and more on their performances.

“Yeah, the whole point of snowboarding is to have fun,” Taylor told the The Denver Post’s Jason Blevins. "Some people psyche themselves out. If your snowboarding is not on point because you are thinking about the Olympics, it's all one big mess."

Arielle expressed similar sentiments during her qualification run.

"I'm trying not to think too much about Sochi, because if I don't make it, I don't want it to ruin my whole season. If I'm riding well, I'll be happy," Arielle told Blevins. "I don't want to focus my entire snowboarding career on making it to the Olympics. People can get too wrapped up in it all."

This wisdom, it would seem, Arielle learned from Taylor—her guitar-playing, skateboarding brother—who learned early on that competing at the sport’s highest levels at just 15 years old could take its toll.

"I think he realized that being super focused on results, medals and podiums ... that's probably not a very rewarding way of pursuing his career," the siblings’ father, Ken, told Blevins. "He really loves snowboarding. He got it into his head that if 'I go out and lay down a run I'm satisfied with, that's my reward. ... The results will come.'"

According to the The New York Times’ John Branch, Ken Gold, a former professional moguls skier, said son Taylor played the classic big brother role for his younger sister to a tee. Not only did he help inspire her to become a competitive snowboarder herself, but he also helped guide her as she advanced up the ranks:

Taylor is, in many ways, responsible for Arielle’s success because he held her to a very high standard when she was learning...He told her: ‘Look, most of the girls do things the way the other girls do. You need to do things the way the guys do. You need to grab your snowboard, you need to go big, you have style, you need to have aggression in your riding.’ I think she’s the rider she is because he is.

If Taylor was the inspiration to his younger sister, then their parents, Ken and Patty, were the authors of the ecosystem that encouraged the siblings’ rise. Devoted parents, they provided consistent and loving support from the very beginning, and their involvement has only grown as Taylor and Arielle have advanced. They videotape every single one of their practices, and the entire family moves across Colorado from Steamboat Springs to Breckenridge for five months every year to be closer to the competitions.

And it doesn’t’ stop there, Ken told Sanders:

They are on snow all winter. They have a brief hiatus in the spring. Then they go to Mammoth, Calif., where there's still snow in May; then they go to Mount Hood [Ore.] for a month in mid-summer; and then they go to New Zealand for a month in the end of the summer, where it's winter in the other hemisphere. So, they're on snow, you know, 10, sometimes more, months a year.

Where snow fails, the two spend time training together in the gym.

“We can hear advice from each other that we couldn’t take from coaches,” Taylor told Branch. “Stuff that’s not necessarily positive, but that eventually helps you.”

That help can come from either direction.

While Taylor’s rise to the top of the sport has been slow and steady, Arielle’s vault into the spotlight came in a flash.

Arielle won the Junior World Championship at just 15 in March of 2012. Last season, as a rookie, she won six medals in six events, including a bronze at her first Winter X Games in Aspen.

“That motivated Taylor to step it up,” Patty told Branch. “He saw what she was doing, and I think he realized that I need to go to the next level. I want to be doing what she’s doing.”

And it worked. Only four men in the world made more finals last season than Taylor. And now, of course, he’s headed to Sochi alongside Arielle.

Speaking about the duo to Sanders, Alyssa Roenigk, a senior writer at ESPN, says the two traits most notable in the pair are humility and focus.

"If you happened to hop on the chairlift with either of them, you would never know that they're two of the best snowboarders in the world," Roenigk told Sanders. "They're very similar. They're both quiet.”

But don’t let their demeanors fool you. This quiet brother-sister team is headed to Sochi to make some real noise.

Between Taylor’s style and technical precision, and Arielle’s technical grabs and explosive airs, don’t be surprised if one or both Gold siblings make good on their namesake and end atop a podium in Sochi. 

Crash Course: Saskatchewan native Mark McMorris could be a viable slopestyle adversary to Shaun White in Sochi, in what would be his first Olympics. McMorris, 20, has won five X Games medals (three gold, two silver) and took home silver in the 2013 World Snowboarding Championships. He currently stars in the MTV Canada reality show "McMorris & McMorris" about his snowboarding world travels with brother Craig, who also boards competitively. 

Athletic Profile: In 2012, McMorris became the first snowboarder to ever complete a backside triple cork 1440 in competition. That's three flips and four 360-degree rotations. He described it to the New York Times as a "hurricane in the air." He has medaled in three X Games (2011-2013), and the Denver Post reported that he is the first person in X Games history to score a 98.00 in snowboard slopestyle.

The Rivalry: Shaun White is the face of snowboarding, but he no longer dominates slopestyle. McMorris is infringing on that territory and in 2011 called out White for his questionable ambassadorship of the sport. "He could definitely represent snowboarding better," McMorris told the The Globe and Mail. "Just be way more cool. He’s so lame. He’s on his own page, he doesn’t hang out with anybody but himself.”

Social Profile: McMorris has nearly 42,000 Facebook fans and over 40,000 Twitter followers. He also has his own website, and is sponsored by Red Bull. 

Off the Slopes: When he's away from the snow, McMorris surfs, plays ice hockey, golfs and roots for his beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. The New York Times called McMorris the type that "could make teenage girls swoon and grandparents proud."

The final day of competition isn't until Dec. 22, but a few of the United States' best snowboarders have already made their mark at the first leg of the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix. 

Competition began on Dec. 16 in Copper Mountain, Colo., the first of three sites that serve as the official qualifying series for the Sochi Winter Olympics. The finals will be completed on Sunday, but there's already been enough action to react to.

A handful of competitors have already made it through the event's finals. Chief among them are the three stars listed below. You can view all the results here.

Kelly Clark

This should come as no surprise. The winningest snowboarder in history keeps performing at a high level. Clark had the highest score on halfpipe and second place wasn't really close. Clark's 96.00 set the standard in all heats (fellow American Arielle Gold had the second-highest score at 90.50).

Check out Kelly's amplitude during one of her runs.

Prior to the Grand Prix, Clark had already qualified for the Sochi Games on Dec. 11 at the Dew Tour's iON Mountain Championship in Breckenridge, Colo. The legend and pioneer of the sport is simply extending her dominance in Copper Mountain.

Jamie Anderson

Not to be outdone by Clark, Anderson shined brightly during the slopestyle qualifying runs. Just like Clark, Anderson set the pace with a 96.00 score in Heat 1.

Heavy snow forced Anderson and the other competitors to be a little less daring in their slopestyle routines, but her execution was top-notch. The 23-year-old had won the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championship title as well with an identical score.

She's showing no signs of slowing down as she maintained consistency—even in less-than-ideal circumstances.

Greg Betz

Last year was a bit slow for Betz, but he appears to be peaking at the right time. He was great on the halfpipe with a score of 94.00. It was good enough to win Heat 3 and just edged out France's Arthur Longo and fellow American Ben Ferguson for the best score of the day in the event.

Betz celebrated with a pretty boss Instagram image below.

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With the Winter Olympics just around the corner, the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix is a major event. It is the official U.S. Olympic team qualifying series for half-pipe, so the stakes will be high as the three-location series kicks off at Copper Mountain, Colo. on Dec. 16.

The series attracts the best male and female performers in the sport, and this year's version will be no different.

Here's a look at the event schedule for the Grand Prix series, a closer look at the events and two legendary stars to watch.

Location	Dates	TV Coverage
Copper Mountain, Colo.	Dec. 16-22	NBC - Dec. 22 - 3 p.m.
Northstar, Calif.	Jan. 6-12	NBC - Jan. 12 - 1:30 p.m.
Mammoth Mountain Resort, Calif.	Jan. 14-19	NBC - Jan. 19 - 3 p.m.

The Events

Half-Pipe

The structure was popularized for use in skateboarding, but Dough Waugh invented the Pipe Dragon that was used in the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. He is one of—if not the most—instrumental people in vaulting snowboarding into an Olympic sport.

It is one of the most visually impressive events under the snowboarding umbrella. Here's a look at two of the best runs on the half-pipe in 2013. Kelly Clark's winning run at the 2013 U.S. Open was sick, but then again the snowboarding community has to expect nothing less from her. Just below that is Louie Vito's third-place performance at the same event.

Slopestyle

While half-pipe is quite the spectacle, slopestyle brings about a level of excitement that is unrivaled in the sport, in my opinion. It is all about the most difficult, death-defying tricks, and the event has produced some amazing performances.

One of note in 2013 was Mark McMorris' at the Aspen X Games in January. Here's a look at his record-breaking run. He earned the highest score in snowboard slopestyle history on this one.

Athletes to Watch

Shaun White

Perhaps the most well-known name in the sport is White. The 27-year-old finished first in the half-pipe qualifying event at The Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colo. He didn't unveil his newest trick—a twisting, 1440-degree jump—but fans will have their eyes peeled for White to pull it off at one of the Grand Prix events.

Kelly Clark

Clark is the winningest snowboarder in history—male or female. The 30-year-old has already been named to the U.S. Olympic team, and she looks to shine during the Grand Prix series in preparation for the Sochi Games.

Her amplitude and variety of tricks make her a must-see star every time she competes.

Shaun White won his sixth-straight gold medal in the SuperPipe at the Winter X Games. After a perfect score of 100.0 last year, coming back and winning his 13th gold medal solidifies White's legacy.

It would seem that last year's historic score on the SuperPipe would have been enough, but coming back and delivering another incredible run showed a lot about White. 

Following his Winter X Games 15 success, White's presence in the media wasn't quite at the level of his snowboarding.   

Back in September, White was arrested and charged with vandalism and public intoxication after an incident in a Nashville hotel. The public relations nightmare put a scar on White's reputation that he's been trying to overcome since.  

Heading into this year's X Games, White cut his hair and had the charges dropped. He delivered some great runs in the SuperPipe, finishing with a 98.00 to earn him gold once again. 

Equally impressive as White's run was his renewed spirit (via XGames.ESPN.com):

I don't think I've ever been more focused and more in tune with what I'm doing physically as well as mentally. Six years, that's pretty heavy. It's going to be more uncomfortable next year when I'm going for the seventh. I like it; it's a pretty humbling title to hold. I'm proud.

White's ability to come back this year with a new attitude and dominate the SuperPipe was remarkable. He's turned the corner from the arrest and looks ready to hold on to being the world's best snowboarder. 

His snowboarding ability and records were never in question. The two-time Olympic gold medalist has brought more to snowboard than perhaps anybody ever has. That part of his legacy has been set in stone for quite some time. 

The resiliency White showed in earning this gold medal is a new facet of White's legacy. During his sparkling career, he hasn't faced a ton of adversity. This year he faced it and came out looking very strong.  

There isn’t a more recognizable figure in the world of extreme winter sports than Shaun White. He hasn’t quite lived up to expectations this year, though.

White was expected to arrive at Aspen as he always has—with a new trick up his sleeve and several gold medals to be won. After failing to deliver in the snowboarding slopestyle competition en route to a fifth-place finish, he’ll have one more shot on Sunday in the superpipe final.

The Flying Tomato is in position to redeem his slopestyle performance. In the elimination round, White finished second behind Iouri Podladtchikov with a run of 87—just .33 points shy of the Swiss 24-year-old.

White highlighted his run with two double cork 1080s out of the gate, finishing with a backside method more than 19 feet above Buttermilk pipe. You can watch his entire run below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWFPSeLoStk

With another run like that on Sunday, White stands a good chance of repeating superpipe gold. His Thursday run looked crisp and relatively mistake-free, though he did land low on the pipe on his frontside 540.

White didn’t complete his second run, but he didn’t have to. Only four other challengers scored an 80 or better in the elimination round, and his 87 was 4.34 points higher than the next closest rider. He did fail to secure the final starting position in the finals by finishing second behind Iouri Podladtchikov, though.

While perfection isn’t easy, it is almost expected of the most decorated rider in snowboarding history. Fans want to see White go big, and that’s exactly what he’ll do on Sunday. He’s out to defend his title and the perfect score he recorded en route to superpipe gold last year.

White’s gold last year was already locked up when he completed his perfect run on a bad ankle, which he highlighted with a frontside double cork 1260. He didn’t throw anything quite as extreme in his elimination-round run, but fans should expect White to go just as big with a gold—and perfection—on the line.

The Flying Tomato has earned gold at the Winter X Games each of the last five years. If he doesn’t step up to the plate on Sunday, he’ll be in unfamiliar territory, leaving Aspen without a gold medal to defend for the first time more than half a decade.

He isn’t the type of competitor who takes days off, though. White has a desire to be the best, and he’ll prove it in the superpipe final. Given what’s at stake, White could be poised for another perfect run in defense of his title.

Mark McMorris doesn't believe in taking it easy—even when he's assured of winning the gold medal in the men's Snowboard Slopestyle at X Games Aspen 2013. The 19-year-old Canadian won his second straight X Games gold medal in the event.

With the top spot on the podium already wrapped up, McMorris could have turned in a routine with a very low difficulty. Instead, he did this:

The routine featured several cool tricks. Here is a breakdown of what we saw from McMorris' last run (per Devon O'Neil of XGames ESPN):

Cab 270 to fakie on the down rail

Switch lipslide on the up rail

Front blunt sameway 270

Boardslide gap boardslide to fakie

Cab 1260 double cork

Frontside 1080 double cork

Double wildcat

Backside triple cork 1440

That's not the type of run you'd expect from a guy with the gold medal well in hand.

McMorris completely understands that this is the X Games, and that fans want to be entertained. This is not the format where competitors should be playing it safe.

Critics could have criticized the condition changes that seemingly aided McMorris in his previous scores, but he squelched that argument with his awesome finishing run. It was a pleasant surprise and the type of moment that produces stars.

Some may have expected Shaun White to give McMorris a stiff challenge, but the X Games legend of skateboarding and snowboarding was no match for the defending champion.

In fact, McMorris was just one of four competitors to finish ahead of White. Here are the final standings:

PLACE	NAME	POINTS
1	Mark McMorris	98.00
2	Maxence Parrot	90.00 R
3	Seppe Smits	85.00
4	Chas Guldemond	80.00 R
5	Shaun White	71.00
6	Peetu Piiroinen	66.00 R
7	Aleksander Oestreng R	55.00
8	Gjermund Braaten	18.00 R

With McMorris not yet 20 years old, he is in place to dominate for years to come. He certainly gained his share of fans by leaving it all on the slope. If there was a torch to be passed, McMorris took it and ran with it.

Hopefully he stays daring and exciting in his future runs.

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Shaun White is set to compete in both the slopestyle and superpipe finals over the weekend to close out the Winter X Games. The world's best-known snowboarder will be facing increasing pressure to perform once again. If he doesn't come up with two golds, White's X Games campaign will have to be considered a failure. 

White has set the bar incredibly high. He's won 17 medals at the Winter X Games and last year completed a superpipe run with a perfect score of 100.0. He's dominated snowboarding and has been the face of winter sports. 

While White has set his sights on Sochi and 2014 Winter Olympics, a fault at the Winter X Games can only harm White's reputation. As part of his standard he set, White simply can't afford to lose in either of his two events, but especially the superpipe. 

Newcomer and 19-year-old Mark McMorris will be gunning to take down White in the slopestyle. McMorris won gold in the event last year and finished first in qualifying with a score of 88.66. His run put him solidly ahead of White's best run, which was good for a score of 67.33.

As the dominant name in snowboarding over the last 10 years, White risks losing some of that ground to McMorris. The up-and-comer broke onto the scene last year by winning gold in the slopestyle and the big air. He features smooth runs and exciting tricks. 

In the slopestyle, the two competitors could attempt the triple cork. The trick has only been completed in a big-air competition (McMorris) and never in slopestyle. If McMorris lands the trick and White doesn't, that will be a huge disappointment for White.

In addition to fighting off newcomers, White needs to battle himself. He needs to one-up himself from last year when he delivered the perfect run in the superpipe. His fans, and snowboarding fans in general, will be expecting another great run. Much of the pressure that falls on White was created by him and his dominance of the sport.

To live up to expectations and take momentum into the rest of the year, White simply has to win gold in both events. 

Defending Slopestyle champion Mark McMorris will be battling a new face in the finals this year: Shaun White. Despite the vaunted White returning to the competition, McMorris will win gold for the second straight year. 

The 19-year-old Canadian finished first in the qualifying round with an emphatic score of 88.66 on his first run. He dominated the competition with the statement performance as he finished a full seven points ahead of the next competitor. While most riders held their tricks close to their chest, McMorris put together an exciting run. 

One of those who kept his run fairly simple was White. He finished with a score of 67.33 on his first run to qualify for the finals for the first time since 2009. White won the event in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009. 

Heading into the finals, White will surely like his chances to dominate the competition and add to his 17 medals at the Winter X Games. Given his name and status, White's runs will likely be scored higher than the rest of the bunch. 

After White dropped out of the competition last year, the two went head-to-head at X Games Tignes. White won the gold, while McMorris finished with silver. 

McMorris will need to put together an incredible run to beat out White. With the tricks in his bag, though, McMorris should have every opportunity to win gold and take down White in the process. McMorris is extremely confident in his abilities, but does a great job of knowing what tricks to try and when to do them. 

While it seems the finals will come down to one of these two, it could be determined by the triple cork. McMorris was the first to land the trick in a competition, but according to ESPN, White was landing the move in practice this week. 

McMorris will be looking to cement himself as the future of snowboarding and replacing White from that position. With a strong run and a gold medal against White in the Slopestyle, McMorris will surely be on his way to doing just that.