Kenworthy delivers, leads men’s ski slopestyle qualifying at X Games
Chris Dillmann | cdillmann@vaildaily.com |
Advancing to Sunday’s finals
1. Gus Kenworthy, USA 94.66
2. James Woods, GBR 93
3. Nick Goepper, USA 92.33
4. Henrik Harlaut, SWE 91.33
5. Oscar Wester, SWE 90.33
*Oystein Braaten, McRae Williams and Alex Beaulieu-Marchand automatically qualified to finals based off last year’s podium results
Failing to qualify for finals
6. Andri Ragettli, 89.33
7. Fabian Boesch, 87.66
8. Evan McEachran, 86
9. Alex Hall, 84
10. Jesper Tjader, 82.66
11. Antoine Adelisse, 81.33
12. Ferdinand Dahl, 79.66
13. Noah Wallace, 70.66
14. Cody LaPlante, 48.66
15. Joss Christensen, 40.66
16. Teal Harle, 38.66
Riding a wave of momentum from both the Snowmass and Mammoth Grand Prix, Gus Kenworthy was the top men’s ski slopestyle qualifier Friday at X Games Aspen.
The Telluride native scored 94.66 in the first of his two qualifying runs at Buttermilk to edge Great Britain’s James Woods, who was second with 93. Kenworthy has one X Games silver medal in slopestyle, coming in 2016. He’s never won slopestyle gold.
Indiana’s Nick Goepper was third (92.33), Sweden’s Henrik Harlaut was fourth (91.33) and Sweden’s Oscar Wester was fifth (90.33). Only the top five of the 16 athletes in Friday’s qualifier advanced to Sunday’s eight-skier final.
The three X Games medalists from a year ago — Norway’s Oystein Braaten (gold), Utah’s McRae Williams (silver) and Canada’s Alex Beaulieu-Marchand (bronze) — received automatic spots and didn’t have to qualify for Sunday’s finals.
Kenworthy, Goepper and Williams make up three-fourths of the 2018 U.S. men’s Olympic ski team for slopestyle. The fourth, Utah resident Alex Hall, was ninth in Friday’s qualifying.
Also notably missing from Sunday’s finals is Utah’s Joss Christensen, the 2014 Olympic gold medalist. He only made his season debut earlier this month in Snowmass after tearing his ACL in May. He was 15th out of the 16 competitors in X Games qualifying.
Kenworthy won silver and Goepper bronze at the 2014 Olympics for an American podium sweep. Woods, Harlaut, Braaten, Wester and Beaulieu-Marchand were all 2014 Olympians as well.
Sunday’s finals are scheduled for 12:45 p.m.
Genstar’s Jean-Pierre Conte sued in Aspen by ex-girlfriend Hillary Thomas
The former girlfriend of Jean-Pierre Conte, the chairman and managing director of the private equity firm Genstar Capital, filed suit Thursday in Aspen claiming that Conte committed assault, battery, and violated the terms of a 2021 separation agreement. Hillary Thomas claims in her lawsuit that during her more than nine years with Conte, she helped parent his four children and her two children “whom they raised in a blended family.”
