Fort Worth Country Day’s Aiden Meeker ‘22 was in attendance at this year’s X Games. He was in Aspen snowboarding, and he thought spectating the games would make a good addition to his trip. 

“Overall, it was a really cool experience,” Meeker ‘22 said. “I have never really seen anything like it and as a snowboarder, watching the snowboarding events was by far my favorite part.”

What event would students of Country Day’s senior class compete in if they were in the X Games? Let’s find out:

“If I were in the X Games, I would definitely curl. I don’t do very well with high velocity, down hill sports,” Carter Daly ‘22 said.

Well, curling is not an event in the X Games, but maybe Daly can bring that dream to life at Harvard, where he will be studying next year. 

“Hmmm I would not compete even if I got paid millions of dollars to do so,” Clara Thomas ‘22 said, “Skiing and snowboarding seem very dangerous, and I could never imagine trying to participate on big slopes.”

This fear and imagination was finally met with Meeker’s bravery. After being a spectator, Aiden feels he has what it takes to be the next winner. 

“Honestly, it does not look too hard. I think I could get mostly golds, dabble in the silver, and maybe a bronze on a bad day,” Meeker ‘22 said. 

Maybe the next time you flip through the channels and the winter X Games is on, you will see Aiden Meeker dashing down the slopes, Daly competing in a newly implemented curling event, or Thomas fearfully in the audience. 

The X Games welcomed back athletes and fans alike to Buttermilk in Aspen, Colorado for its 21st consecutive year hosting the games. At this year’s competition, almost 100 of the world’s top winter athletes competed in the biggest snow-sporting event of the year. This event was free to attend with proof of full COVID-19 vaccination, and it was covered live on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. 

The event ran its course over three days. During this time frame, athletes competed in world-class action sports across 14 disciplines including Men’s and Women’s Ski and Snowboard SuperPipe, Slopestyle, Big Air, and Knuckle Huck.

On Friday, January 21, the following events took place: Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle, Women’s Ski Big Air, Women’s Ski SuperPipe, Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe, and Snowboard Knuckle Huck. Snowboard Slopestyle is a snowboarding or skiing competition in which participants perform tricks and jumps on a sloping course with multiple ramps and obstacles. In this women’s event, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott received gold, Jamie Anderson received silver, and Laurie Blouin received bronze. 

Ski Big Air is a high-injury-risk sports discipline where the competitor skis down a hill or ramp and performs aerial tricks after launching off very large jumps. In the Women’s Ski Big Air, Tess Ledeux received gold with a score of 94.00, Megan Oldham received silver with a score of 89.00, and Olivia Asselin received bronze with a score of 72.00. 

The superpipe event consists of a large halfpipe structure in which competitors glide across the course completing various tricks. In this men’s snowboarding event, Scotty James received gold, Ayumu Hirano received silver, and Kaishu Hirano received bronze. In the women’s ski event, Kelly Sildaru received gold, Brita Sigourney received silver, and Hanna Faulhaber received bronze. 

To wrap up the day, the Snowboard Knuckle Huck event occurred in which a group of snowboarders have 20 minutes to “huck” themselves over the bottom “knuckle” of the hill that’s set up near the big-air venue — bypassing the massive kicker completely. In this event, Marcus Kleveland received gold, Fridtjof Sæther Tischendorf received silver, and Dusty Henricksen received bronze.

The next day of the competition, Saturday, January 22, consisted of Women’s Ski Slopestyle, Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle, Women’s Snowboard Big Air, Women’s Snowboard SuperPope, Men’s Ski Big Air, and Men’s Snowboarding Big Air. In the Women’s Ski Slopestyle event, Tess Ledeux won gold, Mathilde Gremaud received silver, and Megan Oldham received bronze. In the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle, Mark McMorris won gold, Marcus Kleveland received silver, and Sven Thorgren received bronze. In the Women’s Snowboard Big Air, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott won gold with a score of 85.00, Jamie Anderson received silver with a score of 82.00, and Miyabi Onitsuka received bronze with a score of 78.00. In the Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe, Sena Tomita received gold, Queralt Castellet received silver, and Haruna Matsumoto received bronze. In the Men’s Ski Big Air event, Alex Hall won gold with a score of 94.00, Mac Forehand received silver with a score of 92.00, and Teal Harre received a bronze with a 91.00. Similarly, in the Men’s Snowboard Big Air event, Marcus Kleveland received gold with a score of 82.00, Max Parrot received silber with a score of 81.00, and Rene Rinnekangas received bronze with a score of 80.00.

Finally, on the last day, Sunday, January 23, only three events took place: Men’s Ski Slopestyle, Ski Knuckle Huck, and to close off the event, Men’s Ski SuperPipe. In the Men’s Ski Slopestyle, Andri Ragettli won gold, Max Moffatt received silver, and Alex Hall received bronze. In the Ski Knuckle Huck, Quinn Wolferman won gold, Jake Mageau received silver, and Alex Hall received bronze. In the Men’s Ski SuperPipe, Nico Porteous won gold, Aaron Blunck received silver, and David Wise received bronze. 

In addition to spectating, the audience could find many things to do including sponsor activities, live DJ performances, and culinary goodness. This year, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the games could not host ticketed concerts like they had in years past. However, various DJ and other musical performances were integrated into the general X Fest area at the base of the competition venue. 

This was a good year for the X Games, and it was a relief to athletes to be able to compete in an event.