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Former champ Cassie Sharpe returns from hiatus, wins X Games halfpipe skiing gold for third time

Basalt's Hanna Faulhaber withdrew after her first run due to injury

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Austin Colbert

Canada's Cassie Sharpe is interviewed on the podium while showing her daughter, Louella, her gold medal from winning the women's halfpipe skiing final at X Games Aspen on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, at Buttermilk Ski Area.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

Having a child changes a lot, but it’s done nothing to diminish Cassie Sharpe’s talent on snow. The Canadian superstar returned to X Games Aspen on Friday after a three-year hiatus and, with her daughter, Louella, in the crowd, won her third gold medal in women’s halfpipe skiing at Buttermilk Ski Area.

The 32-year-old hadn’t competed at X Games since 2021, where she finished second, with her daughter being born in August 2023.

“Out of control. I can’t even describe how special it is. My mom is over there crying, calling my dad,” Sharpe said after the podium ceremony. “I’m just so proud of myself that I can prove it to everybody that it wasn’t just a fluke that I came back and that I came back swinging.”

While her comeback eventually stole the show, the biggest news was who didn’t. Basalt’s Hanna Faulhaber, competing in her third X Games, didn’t complete her first run after clipping the lip of the halfpipe. She skied to the base on one leg and was later seen on crutches in the crowd. She did not return to the competition, officially finishing eighth.

Faulhaber had won bronze in her X Games debut in 2022 and took fifth in 2023. She missed the 2024 competition after a major knee injury sent her to the bench for a few months, and she only returned to the halfpipe in December for the Copper Grand Prix, where she also failed to put down a clean run.


Also missing Friday’s final was China’s Eileen Gu, who had to pull out after injuring herself during the women’s street style final earlier that afternoon. Gu was also absent from women’s ski big air later Friday night. She was the reigning X Games halfpipe champion as well as reigning Olympic halfpipe champion, having edged Sharpe in Beijing.

Basalt’s Hanna Faulhaber competes in the women’s halfpipe skiing final at X Games Aspen on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, at Buttermilk Ski Area.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Basalt’s Hanna Faulhaber skis into the finish area on one leg after crashing in the women’s halfpipe skiing final at X Games Aspen on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, at Buttermilk Ski Area. She had to pull out of the competition.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

“Honestly, with the new format they were testing out, I was just really hoping to make it into the superfinal and be out there riding with the girls, do all four of my runs,” Sharpe said. “But this is the dream outcome. This is the best outcome there could be, so I’m so stoked.”

The new format included a “playoff” with each skier getting two runs. The top four advanced to the two-run final, which Friday included Sharpe, China’s Fanghui Li, Canada’s Amy Fraser, and the British-American Zoe Atkin.

Sharpe’s 88.33 on her first run of finals did the trick, with Li taking silver (86.66) and Fraser taking the bronze (84.66). Atkin’s 68 in finals kept her from the podium.

Canada’s Cassie Sharpe competes in the women’s halfpipe skiing final at X Games Aspen on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, at Buttermilk Ski Area.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

“This is the best event of the year, so it was all excitement. A little bit of nerves,” Sharpe said of her first X Games run since 2021. “My first run, I wanted to put a run down, so I didn’t do my full run. I didn’t do the 10(80). But then my next three runs, I just kept trying to push amplitude, hit the grabs, and have the best time I could have and enjoy being in the X Games halfpipe again.”

Sharpe, the 2018 Olympic gold medalist and the 2022 Olympic silver medalist, certainly thought about retirement after having her daughter. But after catching a bit of X Games on the television with her then 4-month-old kid, it became apparent the hunger to compete was still there.

She’s fully committed to making Canada’s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

“We’ve been training and training and training, traveling the world being in halfpipes. It’s a lot, but it takes a village,” she said. “My mom travels with me. She watches Lou for me. Just being able to focus on what I’m doing is really important.”

acolbert@aspentimes.com

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