Following Mia Brookes victory on the opening day of this year’s X Games at Aspen, it was the turn of fellow Brit Zoe Atkin to take a medal – this time silver – on day 2 of the famous competition.
Atkin, who is based in the US and studying at Stanford University, was up against heavy favourite Eileen Gu, who is also studying at Stanford, in the Ski Superpipe.
Zoe went 12 feet above the pipe, but a fall in her last run landed her in second position with Canada’s Amy Fraser taking home the bronze.
Despite navigating an aggravating injury, Gu, representing China, came out of the gates with her sights locked on gold.
Since 2019, the full-time student and model has been virtually unstoppable in the discipline with 15 superpipe starts, 14 podiums and 13 wins.
Gu sealed her victory from her very first run, including a 10 foot, 6 inch air out of the pipe with technical variations, back-to-back 900s, and alley oop backside 540 safety grab. Judges awarded her performance, upping her score in her final run to a 95.66 to secure her second superpipe gold, adding to her three X Games medals in SuperPipe and Slopestyle, and Big Air bronze – all which she secured in her rookie X Games appearance in 2021.
“I’m so honoured to win X Games again. To me, I’ve always said this event really epitomizes everything that action sports are,” said Gu. “I want to recognize the athletes missing tonight, including Sarah Burke who paved the way for us. And thank you, X Games time and time again, for all the support who got me through this week. X Games is magic. I love all the skiing, I love all of it. Thank you Aspen!”
Image credit Trevor Brown Junior X Games
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