A Fitting Tribute
Groenewoud Takes Gold in Women’s Ski SuperPipe
With Sarah Burke stickers adorned to her helmet, Canadian teammate and close friend, Roz Groenewoud, captured gold in Women’s Ski SuperPipe with a 93.66 – the highest score in the events’ history.
“It means so much,” an emotional Groenewoud said. “After the tribute on Thursday, I am so proud to be a skier. The outpouring of support has been amazing. I felt like I had Sarah with me. She has been a teammate for so long. This is for Sarah.”
After winning the bronze medal the last two years, the gold is Groenewoud’s first in five Winter X Games appearances.
Maddie Bowman, who made her first Winter X Games appearance last year managed three scores in the 90s, her highest a 92.00, won the silver.
“Honestly this is kind of shocking, it is just now sinking in,” an excited Bowman said. “It’s great and I am honored to be able to go out and ski like Sarah would have wanted.”
Last year’s silver medalist Brita Sigourney executed the first 1080 in competition, took home the bronze with a high score of 90.66.
“I am always happy to be on the podium,” Sigourney said. “It was definitely stressful today and I don’t usually ski well under pressure but I pulled it off today.“
The Ski SuperPipe event represents the progression of the sport and showcases the best pipe riders in the world. The SuperPipe course consists of a large halfpipe structure with vertical walls. The course is approximately 567-foot long and 66 feet wide, with 22-foot walls. SuperPipe is judged on amplitude, execution, difficulty, landings and use of the course.
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.
-30-
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