X Games Aspen 2017 Recap
Another X Games has come and gone, and this one with plenty of excitement and drama as usual. The sled guys put it all on the line again with huge tricks, including not one, but two double backflip attempts on the weekend. It was also the first appearance of Snow Bikes, with fast action in the Snow Bike Cross event. Months of preparation by the athletes and the event staff was brought to fruition in one short weekend.
Here are the highlights from X Games Aspen 2017
Snowmobile Freestyle
Bronze
Levi Lavallee had a sick run, with a number of big flips worked in. His landings were super clean and the whole run was executed very well.The run was super impressive, and good enough for bronze in the event.
http://xgames.espn.com/xgames/video/18574443
Silver
Colten Moore placed second on the strength of his first run. The Texan threw down some tightly executed tricks including a huge Tsunami flip right off the bat.
Gold
Joe Parsons defended his title, winning back-to-back gold medals in the Snowmobile Freestyle event. Parsons scored 91.33 in his first run which was good enough for silver, but not enough for the athlete himself. He ran a clean second run and pulled out the “Volt”, a never seen before 360° body spin in the air for the win.
Snowmobile Best Trick
Bronze
Joe Parsons, following up his win in Snowmobile Freestyle was the first to hit the big ramp in the Best Trick event. Parsons pulled a single backflip, which it looked like he would have liked to land facing backwards. In slow-motion review, as Parsons gets inverted and spots his landing, it looks like he changes his mind mid-trick and reverts to facing forward for the landing. Parsons over-rotated and landed track-heavy, so it was probably a good idea to pull the pin on the trick. In any case it was enough to score him bronze.
http://xgames.espn.com/xgames/video/18580123
Silver
Brett Turcotte threw down his “Supercamp” flip in solid fashion. Turcotte went huge on the jump, giving him time to extend and execute the trick and make a solid landing. The trick put him in first place near the end of Round 2, but would prove not quite enough for gold.
Gold
Daniel Bodin moved from 5th to the gold medal position with a huge indy seatgrab flip. He had plenty of height for a full extension, and landed the trick well. After winning, Bodin went on to acknowledge the efforts of Moore and Frisby—who had both crashed attempting double backflips—for their efforts, dedicating his win to them.
Double Backflip Attempts
Here are Heath Frisby and Colten Moore’s double backflip attempts. Frisby wrecked his sled after under-rotating his attempt, but walked away from the crash. Moore wasn’t so lucky, and had to be rushed to hospital complaining of back pain after his crash.
Snow Bike Cross
Brock Hoyer took home gold in the inaugural event, which he won by nearly 12 seconds on his Yamaha and Timbersled kit. Colton Haaker won silver, and up-and-comer Cody Matechuk took bronze. The event was a huge hit, as evidenced by big crowds trackside at the final.
Congratulations to all the athletes that competed! And thanks for putting it all out there for us to enjoy. We look forward to X Games Aspen 2018!
— MS
