As the sun set in Aspen and the lights came up on the Big Air jump for the Pacific Women’s Ski Big Air contest, seven talented riders took to the field for their shot at X Games glory.
As the sun set in Aspen and the lights came up on the Big Air jump for the Pacific Women’s Ski Big Air contest, seven talented riders took to the field for their shot at X Games glory.
With several top contenders—Megan Oldham, Mathilde Gremaud and Eileen Gu—backing out of the contest, last year’s champion Tess Ledeux was the clear favorite. But she had to hold it down against a field of hungry up-and-comers, including the 17-year-old Italian phenom Flora Tabanelli.
A flurry of double cork 10s—from Grace Henderson, German rookie Muriel Mohr and Anni Karava—started the show in the three-run playoffs. Rell Harwood, fresh off a win in Knuckle Huck yesteray, turned up the volume with a left double 12 mute to take the lead, followed by Mengting Liu with a dub 12 safety of her own.
After the 12s, came the 14s. Flora Tabanelli served up a flawless left double cork 1440 safety, stomping clean with a steezed-out rideout to coast easily into first with the first score in the 90s. And always going all-or-nothing, Tess Ledeux unfortunately lost a ski on the landing of an otherwise perfect switch double 1440 safety.
On the second run, Grace Henderson stomped a beauty of a double cork 10 tail—the best I’ve ever seen by a woman—to move into third place, while Tess ditched her poles and nailed the switch dub 14 clean, blowing into the top spot with a cool 93.33. After Rell put down an impressive dub 12 lead mute in run three, the four finalists were set: Tess Ledeux, Flora Tabanelli, Rell Harwood and Grace Henderson.
Grace Henderson kicked off the two-run finals with what would have been a banger double 12 blunt, but couldn’t stick the landing. Same story for Rell, who missed on her dub 12 lead mute, leaving the path clear for the two top qualifiers. Flora stomped her forward left double cork 1440 safety cleanly, landing a bit heavy, for a score of 90. Tess underrotated and crashed on her switch dub 14, setting the stage for a nail-biting finish.
On the second and final run, Grace Henderson dialed it back with a flawless dub 10 blunt, properly capped—a thing of beauty—to surge into second place. Rell crashed again, Flora couldn’t improve her score, and it all came down to Tess Ledeux.
Fans of Tess will know she’s an all-or-nothing kind of girl. Even in situations where she could strategically dial back her tricks to land an easy podium, she will always, without fail, try the hardest trick she knows. Often it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t—as was the case tonight, as she washed out on the switch 14 a second time. Still, her crash score from run 1 kept her in third place.
Thus, a women’s ski big air podium few would have imagined: the impressive Italian rookie Flora Tabanelli claiming her first X Games gold, followed by blunt specialist Grace Henderson in second and Tess Ledeux in third.
Reflecting on how long she’s been dreaming of winning the X Games, Flora gave a shoutout to one of the night’s absent stars. “I think from when I saw Megan Oldham doing the triple I was like, ‘I want to be there, and on the top spot,’” she said.
Place | Name | Country | Score |
---|---|---|---|
1st | Flora Tabanelli | ITA | 90.00 |
2nd | Grace Henderson | USA | 87.33 |
3rd | Tess Ledeux | FRA | 27.00 |
4th | Rell Harwood | USA | 23.66 |
5th | Mengting Liu | CHN | 87.00 |
6th | Anni Karava | FIN | 86.00 |
7th | Muriel Mohr | GER | 84.33 |
All results on xgames.com