It wasn't supposed to be this close. Probably shouldn't have been so close, but who knew? Aleisha Cline, 32, arrived in Aspen with three X Games Skier X gold medals already on ice. She won in '02 with crazy ease, crushing a strong field, and with a shoulder seriously winged in a mountain bike accident to boot. So how could anybody even think of putting the sweat to Cline, particularly a healthy Aleisha Cline?

Cline (center) fending off Huttary (left) for the gold as Cecilie Hagen Larsen (right) can only hold on for bronze.

Enter Karin Huttary, 25, a newcomer to Winter X, but certainly not a newcomer to skiing fast. Huttary groomed her racing chops as a kid in Austria, and she raced Super G on the World Cup circuit for Sweden (her mother is Swedish). She served up her notice on Cline by posting the day's fastest prelim time, a tenth of a second quicker than Cline and more than a second up on the rest of the field.

But who knew?

Cline and Huttary each won her semifinal, slicing the cake for the final. Cline's dominance of this event-she won in 1999, 2001 and 2002-suddenly looked a lot less dominant. But that's precisely why they race, because speculation ends when the starting gate drops.

Cline powered out of the gate, landed the holeshot and let her Skier X experience take command. Through the rollers, through the banks, through the jumps at the bottom of the course she cut her line precisely-and perfectly. Huttary, tips to tails on Cline for the length of the course, waited … waited … waited for Cline to bobble or slide, but the finish line, and Cline's fourth gold medal, arrived first. Huttary finished second, Cecilie Hagen Larsen was third and defending silver medallist Magdalena Jonsson was fourth.

"I think it would have been possible to beat Aleisha today," Huttary said. "But I was late on the start. And she is a great glider. I came up a couple of times and got close, but I couldn't pass her."

"That was one of the toughest races ever," said Cline.

The men's race was equally thrilling, and the final result possibly even more of a surprise.

Lewen getting loose on his way to gold.

Defending champ Reggie Crist slammed the fastest qualifying time of the day and then won his first heat, edging Sweden's Lars Lewen. Lewen, a former alpiner who turned to skiercross in 2001, was not only competing in his first Winter X Games, but also was paying his first visit to the U.S. Crist and Lewen would become very well acquainted over the rest of the day.

Lewen beat Crist in the semifinal to set up a possible rubber match for the gold.

Five seconds … Crist pulled the holeshot-"I got a great start"-but Lewen quickly passed him for the lead. Crist held second, in perfect position to draft and slingshot at the finish. But Lewen had other plans, and those plans are called Gold Medal. "I can't really imagine my feelings right now," said Lewen, following his two-meter triumph. "I'm so satisfied. I can't even describe it. I've never been happier." Enak Gavaggio of France finished third-his fifth Winter X medal.

Racer Notes:

Cline has won the 24 Hours of Aspen race the past two years. She skied more than 200,000 vertical feet to win the '02 race in December.

Cline has won more gold medals (4) than any other Winter X skier.

Zach Crist, Reggie's brother and the 2001 gold medallist, finished fourth in his preliminary heat and failed to advance.

Casey Pucket of Aspen was a surprise sixth-place finisher in his prelim race. He's a four-time Olympian (seventh in slalom at the '94 Games) and won the 24 Hours of Aspen race in December. This was his first six-pack Skier X race.

Darian McBeath (5th) and Tobias Hellman (6th) are also former U.S. Olympians.