Back on Top and Setting Records
Anderson Sets Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Scoring Record Capturing Gold
Jamie Anderson, the lone American in Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle, set a Winter X Games Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Finals scoring record with a 95.33 on her final run to capture gold.
The gold was Anderson’s third in Snowboard Slopestyle and her sixth total medal in the event. Last year she captured the bronze and said it was nice to see her hard work in training this year paying off.
“I guess I was on point today,” Anderson who last took gold in the event in 2008. “The last few years I was trying to learn some new tricks and they weren’t all the way there. Now they kind of are.”
Due to the freshly fallen snow, most of the competitors struggled to keep their speed over the series of jumps. But Anderson was able to navigate the conditions for the top spot.
“The jumps were definitely really tough to get dialed in but once I got it down I was pretty happy,” Anderson added.
Last year’s gold medalist, Finland’s Enni Rukajärvi, took home the silver with a top score of 82.66.
“I had a good run and was able to complete it,” said Rukajärvi. “It was difficult because the runs are so close together so it was hard to get speed with the last ones.”
The bronze medal went to 30-year old Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas, who grabbed her first Winter X Games medal.
“It feels amazing to be on the podium,” an excited Oestgaard Buaas said. “I have never been on the podium in X Games in the U.S. I have three fourth place finishes, so I was hoping not to have another one. I always try and focus on my own performance and not where I place, but you can’t help to be happy when it happens.”
The Slopestyle course is approximately 1,600-feet long with six features and a vertical drop of 280-feet. Snowboarders attempt multiple tricks throughout their run on specially designed jumps, rails, boxes and other obstacles. Slopestyle is judged on creativity, trick completion 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