5 cool Canadian moments at the 2023 Winter X Games
The Winter X Games in Aspen are an annual highlight of the freestyle skiing and snowboard calendar. The invite-only competition brings together the best of the best in big air, slopestyle, and superpipe for one wild weekend.
This year saw history made by a couple of Canadian athletes as the maple leaf was represented six times on the podium.
Take a look back at five incredibly cool moments created by Team Canada Olympians.
Oldham lands historic triple cork en route to gold
Oh what a Friday night it was for Megan Oldham. The 21-year-old held nothing back in the women’s ski big air competition, stomping a leftside triple cork 1440. It was something never seen before as she became the first woman to land a triple cork in a ski or snowboard contest. The historic, jaw-dropping trick (which is three flips and four rotations off axis) earned her a perfect score of 50! It was the first ever perfect run in women’s big air at the X Games.
Oldham then performed a rightside double cork 1260 on her fourth run, adding 41 points to her score to give her the gold.
“It feels crazy to be a part of the huge push in progression right now and being able to land a trick that has never been done before is a dream come true!” said Oldham.
Oldham kept the good vibes going on Sunday. She returned to the top step of the podium by winning the women’s ski slopestyle event.
McMorris breaks Winter X Games medals record
Shortly after Oldham’s second gold, Mark McMorris won his own gold medal in men’s snowboard slopestyle. That was his 22nd medal all-time at the Winter X Games, breaking his tie with American snowboarder Jamie Anderson for most career Winter X Games medals. It is his 11th gold medal at the Winter X Games, seven of which have come in the slopestyle event.
It was in his final run of Sunday’s contest that McMorris overtook Norway’s Marcus Kleveland with back-to-back 1620s on the last two jumps.
Blouin banks bronze on breakthrough triple
It wasn’t just Oldham pushing the progression in Aspen. In the women’s snowboard big air on Saturday, Laurie Blouin came back after two misses to land the first cab triple underflip 1260. That came just moments after Japan’s Reira Iwabuchi became the first woman to land a clean triple underflip in a snowboard contest. The variety of triple tricks on display took women’s snowboarding to the next level in the course of one weekend.
Blouin combined her historic trick with a frontside double cork 1080 to claim the bronze medal.
Karker keeps medal momentum
Rachael Karker won the silver medal in the women’s ski superpipe event. It is her fourth time standing on the podium at the Winter X Games in Aspen, matching her best result from 2020.
Karker has been enjoying a lot of success this season. She’s finished no worse than second in all three World Cup events she entered. It was a snowy night in the pipe on Saturday, but Karker didn’t let that deter her. After missing on her first run, Karker put down a second run that gave her the lead until the last run by British skier Zoe Atkin.
Harle hauls in big air silver
For the second straight year, Teal Harle earned his way onto the men’s ski big air podium at the Winter X Games. After winning bronze last year, he bumped himself up to the silver medal on Sunday night. Harle came oh so close to the top step of the podium, coming up just one point short of the gold medal. He counted scores of 49 and 47, which was only outdone by American Max Forehand who earned a perfect 50 from the judges for his last run.
