Monster Energy congratulates its team of Freeski and snowboard athletes on a full podium sweep in Men’s Ski Big Air, dominant gold medal victories, and never-been-landed tricks on the first day of X Games Aspen 2024.
ASPEN, Colorado, Jan. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The energy is off the charts for the biggest showcase in winter action sports! Monster Energy congratulates its team of Freeski and snowboard athletes on a full podium sweep in Men’s Ski Big Air, dominant gold medal victories, and never-been-landed tricks on the first day of X Games Aspen 2024.
The Pacifico Men’s Ski Big Air final ended with a full podium sweep for Team Monster Energy, as 19-year-old Monster Army rider Troy Podmilsak from Park City, Utah, claimed his first gold, joined on the podium by Park City’s Alex Hall (silver) and Austria’s Daniel Bacher (bronze). In Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe, 23-year-old Chloe Kim from Los Angeles returned to X Games to claim gold with a never-been-landed trick. In Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle, 17-year-old Mia Brookes from Sandbach, United Kingdom, took gold in what is only her second X Games appearance.
Here’s how the action unfolded for Team Monster Energy on day one of X Games Aspen 2024:
Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle: Mia Brookes Claims Dominant Victory, Kokomo Murase Brings Home Silver
The Monster Energy Team’s medal run started in the first event contested at X Games Aspen 2024. At age 17, Mia Brookes from Sandbach, United Kingdom, dropped into the final as the youngest rider. In her second performance at X Games, Brookes found herself facing an international field featuring multiple X Games gold medalists and Olympic medalists.
Holding her own under pressure, Brookes took the lead with a flawless first run for 95.00 points. On her second run, the young upstart sealed the victory by upping the trick difficulty to new heights. She hit the rail section with frontside boardslide pretzel, half-Cab to 50-50 backside 360 out, 50-50 to lipslide pretzel, and backside lipslide 270 out. In the jumps, she boosted a frontside 360 frontside nosebone on the shark fin, backside 900 Indy, and Cab 1260 stalefish for 97.66 points.
On Run 3, Brookes hit the final booter jump with a Caballerial 1440 – the first ever landed by a woman at X Games – as the exclamation point to a gold-medal performance. Dominating the field, she single-handedly posted the three highest scores of the entire contest (95.00, 97.66, and 96.00 points).
“I’ve been dreaming about this for so long. I honestly… I can’t believe it,” said an emotional Mia Brookes upon winning Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle at X Games Aspen 2024.
Brookes is the reigning FIS Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle World Champion and took podium spots in the three most recent FIS Slopestyle World Cups. Today’s gold marks her first X Games medal.
Also rising to the podium, 19-year-old Kokomo Murase from Gifu, Japan, looked like the only rider to give Brookes a run for her gold medal and took home the silver medal in a tight competition.
Murase earned the highest score on her second run, putting together 50-50 transfer to boardslide on wallride, frontside boardslide 450 out, switch boardslide to forward, and frontside lipslide pretzel in the rails. In the jump section, she posted a stylish switch backside 180 Japan, frontside double cork 900 truck grab, and Cab 1260 double cork Weddle grab the final jump for 94.33 points and the silver medal.
Murase now owns seven X Games medals (1 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze). At age 13, she made history as the youngest rider to medal at Winter X Games with Big Air gold at X Games Norway 2018. Murase and Brookes will be competing in Saturday’s Women’s Snowboard Big Air, stay tuned!
Monster Energy Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe: Chloe Kim Soars Above Competition, Claims Gold with Never-Been-Landed Trick
In the Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe final, the big story was the return to X Games of Chloe Kim after a two-year hiatus. The 23-year-old from Los Angeles had last competed at X Games Aspen 2021 when she won gold in the discipline. Could the ‘Queen of the SuperPipe’ reclaim her throne in a changed competitive landscape?
Turns out she could! Straight out of the gate, the two-time Olympic gold medalist clinched the victory on Run 1 with a perfect performance. Stringing together a huge method air measuring 14 feet, 4 inches, frontside 1080 tailgrab, Cab 900 stalefish, switch method, and Cab 1080 stalefish earned Kim 96.33 points as the highest score of the night.
Taking Run 3 as her victory lap, Kim stoked the fans – and made X Games history – by finishing her run with a Caballerial 1260, a trick never landed by a woman in competition before. Way to return to X Games!
“I’m speechless. I’m really excited to be back! Thank you, Aspen, for having me. I’m really happy I was able to put a run down today and land my Cab 12, I really wanted to do it. And I did it today, yeah!” said Kim upon winning Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe at X Games Aspen 2024.
Speaking on her history-making 1260-degree aerial, Kim added: “I really wanted to land that trick for a while. I tried it in Beijing. I wish it was a little cleaner, but I’m really stoked that I was able to put it down.”
Kim now owns nine X Games medals (7 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) from nine competition starts in SuperPipe. She is now tied with Kelly Clark for most gold in the discipline. Kim represented the United States and earned Olympic gold at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Games.
Thayer Men’s Snowboard Knuckle Huck: Darcy Sharpe Clinches Bronze
The crowd on Buttermilk Mountain went wild for the creative Thayer Men’s Snowboard Knuckle Huck. The 20-minute jam session saw eight top snowboarders ‘hucking’ their most creative tricks over the Big Air ramp’s roll-over, also called the ‘knuckle’.
Dropping in as a four-time X Games medalist, 27-year-old Darcy Sharpe from Calgary, Canada, brought his technical skills to the knuckle. The certified Slopestyle gold medalist raised the bar in the session with a potent mix of finesse, explosive pop, and tons of styles.
Across five creative runs, Sharpe’s highlights included switch barrel roll hand drag with both hands dragging, across the knuckle, huge backside 360, hand drag stretch layout 720, and Cab double hand drag 540 for the bronze medal in a heated session.
Sharpe now owns five X Games medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze).
Pacifico Men’s Ski Big Air: Troy Podmilsak Earns Surprise Gold on Last Trick, Alex Hall Takes Silver, and Daniel Bacher Earns Bronze in Podium Sweep for Team Monster Energy
The crowd was fired up for the Pacifico Men’s Ski Big Air event on Buttermilk Mountain’s massive jump under the floodlights. In a brand-new rule change, every rider started their contest by dropping a Style Trick for a maximum of 10 points, attributing to their maximal 100-point score. The remaining 90 points were earned via two ‘regular’ trick attempts, each worth a maximum 45 points.
No stranger to style, 19-year-old Monster Army rider Troy Podmilsak from Park City, Utah, put down a massive rightside double cork 1080 blunt for seven points as his Style Trick. Following up, he put down a switch double bio 1900 for 30 points but missed his next attempt. With fellow Park City rider Alex Hall taking the lead, Podmilsak put down a switch right double cork bio 1980 safety grab for 36 points but found himself at the bottom of the leaderboard.
When it all came down to the final run, Podmilsak jumped from the bottom all the way to the top by landing a forward right triple cork 2160 mute, a trick never landed at X Games for 43 points and an overall score of 86 points for the gold medal.
Asked what gave him the confidence to pull the risky and never-been-seen trick, Podmilsak said: “There’s no confidence. I just want to win. That’s all it came down to! It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever done, but I’m doing it for the win.”
Podmilsak now owns one X Games medal after taking the win at X Games Aspen 2024 in his second X Games appearance. Previously, Podmilsak won the 2023 FIS World Championships with a triple 2160.
In the down-to-the-wire final, the silver medal went to no other than 25-year-old Park City local Alex Hall. Starting his night on a stylish note, Hall landed a switch zero spin safety grab for nine points, the highest Style Trick score of the contest.
Maintaining his momentum, Hall finessed a never-been-done switch right double cork 1260 pullback to 1080 safety grab for 37 points. He then upped the ante with a switch left tail-butter double cork 1800 lead Japan grab for 39 points, netting a total score of 85 points for second place, a single point behind Podmilsak.
Hall now owns 10 X Games medals (5 Gold, 2 Silver, 3 Bronze) and is the only person to earn X Games gold in four different Ski disciplines. He also won Ski Slopestyle gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics and will be competing in Men’s Freeski Slopestyle this weekend, stay tuned!
Completing the Monster Energy Team’s podium sweep, 19-year-old Daniel Bacher from Austria took the bronze medal. For his Style Run, Bacher dropped a switch 720 tweak Japan grab for 8 points. After accidentally breaking through the snow fence on his second attempt and missing his third trick, Bacher brought his final performance back on track: In his fourth run, the Austrian tail-tapped the take-off lip into a leftside double cork 1080 safety grab for 24 points and secured third place on his final attempt by posting a switch leftside tail butter double cork 1440 safety grab for 38 points and 70.00 points total.
Friday night’s bronze medal at X Games Aspen 2024 is Bacher’s first X Games medal.
Monster Energy Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe: Kaishu Hirano Takes Bronze, Stokes Crowd with Mega Highest Aerial
A high-energy night at X Games Aspen 2024 closed with an epic battle in Monster Energy Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe. When the dust settled, 21-year-old Kaishu Hirano from Murakami, Japan, earned the bronze medal in the highly contested final.
On his second run, Hirano put together a high-flying McTwist melon, frontside double cork 1440 frontside grab, Cab 1080 mute, frontside 1260 frontside grab, backside 1260 mute on the final wall for 86.33 points, and the bronze medal. On his third and final run, Hirano stoked the crowd with an epic method air on the first wall, soaring over 22-feet, 10 inches high in the Aspen sky.
Friday night’s third place in Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe marks Hirano’s second X Games medal (2 bronze). The younger brother of Monster Energy’s Ayumu Hirano, Kaishu earned bronze in Men’s Snowboard halfpipe at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Stay tuned for more X Games Aspen 2024! Over the course of three action-packed days, a full 13 hours of X Games coverage will be broadcast live in the U.S. on ABC and ESPN. All 16 hours of live competitions will be streamed in real-time across the globe on XGames.com, YouTube, and Twitch. Last winter, X Games Aspen 2023 was televised globally in 192 countries and territories, reaching more than 500 million homes.
Visit http://www.monsterenergy.com for exclusive updates from X Games Aspen 2024, including photos, videos, and contest results as they happen. Follow Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at Buttermilk Mountain.
About Monster Energy
Based in Corona, California, Monster Energy is the leading marketer of energy drinks and alternative beverages. Refusing to acknowledge the traditional, Monster Energy supports the scene and sport. Whether motocross, off-road, NASCAR, MMA, BMX, surf, snowboard, ski, skateboard, or the rock and roll lifestyle, Monster Energy is a brand that believes in authenticity and the core of what its sports, athletes, and musicians represent. More than a drink, it’s the way of life lived by athletes, sports, bands, believers, and fans. See more about Monster Energy including all of its drinks at http://www.monsterenergy.com.
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