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Jones wins ninth Winter X medal
EXPN.com Feb. 02, 2001
Mount Snow, VT - The most decorated male snowboarder in the history of the
Winter X Games, Kevin Jones, collected his ninth Winter X Games medal by
repeating as champion of the Slopestyle discipline in the men's snowboarding
competition.
The 26-year-old now owns three gold, three silver, and three bronze medals and still has something in store for Sunday's Big Air competition. "It was a hard competition," Jones said. "There are just too many good riders. You almost have to kill yourself to win with all of them here." The Truckee, Calif. resident won the competition with a score of 89.67 on the second day of action at Mount Snow. Todd Richards picked up his fifth Winter X Games medal as he repeated as the silver medallist in the competition. "I'm really excited for Kevin," Richards said after the competition. "I loved the course and everyone raced well." The 31-year-old Encinitas, Calif. resident scored an 88.67 while Jussi Oksanen, of Kirkkonummi, Finland captured the bronze medal with a score of 84.00. Oksanen had never finished in the top 10 of an X Games event prior to today's Slopestyle. Women's Snowboarding Slopestyle Finals
The 24-year-old won the bronze two years ago and picked up a silver last year on the very same course. "All the girls ripped today and the progression of women's snowboarding has skyrocketed," MacLeod said. Shannon Dunn added another medal to her laundry list of honors as the 28-year-old snared the silver medal with a score of 70.33. The Tahoe Vista, Calif. resident owns two other Winter X medals, having won a silver medal in the 1999 Halfpipe and a gold in the same event in 1997. Marni Yamada made it an American sweep as the Seattle, Wash. resident scored a 68.67 to capture the bronze. The event not only marked the 22-year-old's first ever X medal, but also her first ever top-10 finish in a Winter X Games competition. SnoCross Finals For Blair Morgan, it was the fulfillment of a dream deferred. The 25-year-old snowmobiler entered this year's Winter X Games in Mount Snow, Vt. with one thought on his mind - avenging his second place SnoCross competition finish the last two years. "I gotta win Winter X," the Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada resident said before the competition. "It's driving me crazy. I'm sick of second." Morgan won't have to settle for second any longer as he claimed his first ever Winter X gold getting off to a good start and making no mistakes on the final laps to coast to victory. Meanwhile, Kent Ipsen, of Antioch, Ill., improved on his 16th place finish a year ago to claim the silver medal and a spot on the podium. This race marks the 24-year-old's first ever top 10 finish in the Winter X Games. D.J. Eckstrom, of Duluth, Minn. won the bronze medal. Women's Skier X Finals It's official. Aleisha Cline is back. The summer following the 30-year-old's gold medal in the 1999 Women's Skier X Finals, she suffered a serious crash and said her shoulder has never felt the same since. Until this afternoon. Cline avenged her sixth place finish a year ago by completing the course in 50.685 seconds to claim her second career X Games gold medal. "It's about speed, silver pants and silver skis and these pants are fast," the Sun Peaks, B.C., Canada resident said of her winning outfit. While Cline wore silver on the slopes, Magdalena Jonsson did so on the podium as she raced to the silver medal. The 31-year-old schoolteacher from Nora, Sweden bettered her 14th place performance at Mount Snow last year."I had so much fun," Jonsson said. "They did a great job on the course. I felt it was very unique and enjoyed it so much." Chiara Lawrence made sure an American was on the medal stand as she finished third to pick up the bronze medal. "It's about speed, it's about being out in front and if you are not out front, you need to react quickly." The Olympic Valley, Calif. native has had a series of near misses at Mount Snow as she was the first qualifier in this competition and lost out in a photo finish to Anik Demers in last year's finals. Men's Skier X Finals Every time brothers Zach and Reggie Crist have raced together in competition, one of them has found their way to the podium. Today's Men's Skier X Final at the 2001 Winter X Games was no different. Although 32-year-old Reggie Crist finished sixth in the championship race, his brother Zach raced to a gold medal by completing the course in 45.689 seconds. "I was worried about Reggie at the start," 28-year-old Zach Crist said of the final. "But I got off to a great start and no one is going to catch you if you get off to a great start and make no mistakes." The Sun Valley, Idaho native finished third in this very same event a year ago at Mount Snow. "One of us seems to always pick up the other's slack," the younger Crist said. The other medallists made the most out of their opportunity in the finals. Silver medallist Tomas Andersson, of Nora, Sweden, and bronze-medallist Enak Gavaggio, of Toiry, France, both had disappointing qualifying times as Andersson was seeded 19th and Gavaggio 22nd heading into today's competition. "The course was perfect," the 29-year-old Andersson said of the Mount Snow setting. "It was the hardest competition I have ever been in. It was amazing." Meanwhile, 24-year-old Enak Gavaggio reflected on his disappointment in not being able to repeat his 1999 gold medal performance. "I was really fast out of the first jump," Gavaggio said. "I was really excited. I took the third jump shallow and went too high and when I came down, I couldn't catch him. If I hadn't made that mistake, I'm sure I would have won."Over 25,600 people flooded the slopes of Mount Snow on the second day of competition, bringing the event's attendance to 29,200. The 2000 Winter X Games will bring more than 350 of the world's best alternative sports athletes to Mount Snow to compete for medals and more than half a million dollars in prize money. ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC's Wide World of Sports will combine to produce 13.5 hours of original programming to begin airing February 2. ESPN International's 21 networks will distribute to over 150 million households worldwide in more than 180 countries in 20 languages, while EXPN.com will provide daily in-depth online coverage. Saturday, February 3, ABC's Wide World of Sports will televise Men's Boarder X, Snocross, and Men's Big Air Skiing from 5-6 p.m. ET. ![]() | |||||||||||||||||
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