Third Run’s a Charm
Turski becomes first woman to win three consecutive gold medals in Ski Slopestyle
In previous years, with the gold already in hand, the dominant Kaya Turski’s final run was typically a victory lap. But in 2012, the competition level was at an all-time high and Turski needed the final run to be her best run.
And it was just that, as she scored a 95.00 to grab her third-consecutive gold in Women’s Ski Slopestyle – the first medal awarded at this year’s Winter X Games.
“I’ve never seen the level so high as I’ve seen it today,” Turski said. “Everyone is taking training seriously, eating well, and working hard, it’s going to be a crazy couple of years.”
Turski held off 18-year old Devin Logan, who’s score of 92.33 landed her the silver medal.
“I was cheering on Kaya today,” an exuberant Logan said. “We all want to push the sport every contest; I wanted her to put pressure on me to elevate the level of my riding, same with Anna (Segal). I saw her run and I knew I could do it. We all root for each other while pushing each other at the sometime.”
Entering her final run, Turski stood in third place and knew that she needed to pull out all of the stops if she was to capture gold. She ran smooth through the course executing as only she can and her switch 1080 off the final jump sealed the victory.
“The switch 10 is definitely raising the bar, Anna (Segal) spinning both ways is raising the bar, Devin (Logan) getting inverted is as well, the level is getting really high, I’m just excited were pushing the sport, I think were all doing a good job of that.”
Australia’s Segal, who scored a 90.00 on here first run and led the competition through two rounds, grabbed the bronze.
“I kind of always do that, I’m always focused on my first run,” Segal said of her high score. “I was also really excited I pulled off a new trick (unnatural 7) in my second run.”
The Slopestyle course is approximately 1,600-feet long with six features and a vertical drop of 280 feet. Skiers attempt multiple tricks throughout their run on specially designed jumps, rails, boxes and other obstacles. Judging is based on creativity, trick competitions and style. The competitors are ranked based on the best score of their three runs.
For Winter X Games media information, including press releases, logos and additional images from past events, log on to www.espneventmedia.com. To view medalist runs, visit the Winter X Games You Tube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/xgames and follow the X Games on Twitter at Twitter.com/xgames
WINTER X GAMES ASPEN 2012
Winter X Games Aspen 2012 returns to Aspen/Snowmass, Colo., January 26-29, 2012, with live coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. This year marks the 11th consecutive year the event is being held in Aspen and features more than 200 of the world’s best athletes in the sports of Skiing, Snowboarding and Snowmobile. In addition to 16 hours of live programing on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, more than nine hours of Winter X Games Aspen content will be offered on ESPN3 and 25 hours on ESPN 3D.
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Contacts: Danny Chi, ESPN, 310-642-1509, danny.c.chi@espn.com
Katie Moses-Swope, ESPN, 303-290-7888, katie.moses-swope@espn.com
Alex Rozis, ESPN, 310-642-1533, alex.a.rozis@espn.com
Grace Coryell, ESPN, 310-642-1519, grace.s.coryell@espn.com