X Games Aspen Day 2 tidbits: Eileen Gu dreams of gold and being a food connoisseur
A few odds and ends from Day 2 of the X Games Aspen 2021 at Buttermilk.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’m a huge foodie. My dream job is to be a food connoisseur. I’m not kidding. I’m going to Stanford in the fall, so people are, ‘What are you interested in?’ I always say molecular genetics, because I am interested in that. But my dream job is actually to be a food connoisseur. After I do well at a contest, I have to go out and have a real nice meal. We are in Aspen, so there is a great selection. It’s all take-out, but I’m sure the food will be great.” – Eileen Gu, X Games rookie who won two golds and a bronze at Buttermilk
CRASH OF THE DAY
On her first run back in the X Games superpipe on Saturday, snowboarder Chloe Kim took a fall and then took to Instagram to let her 668K followers know that she “low key popped some ribs out on that first slam.”
Kim wasn’t about to let a few out of place ribs stop her. She ended up finishing the competition in first place to earn her sixth X Games gold medal in the pipe.
TRICK OF THE DAY
Swiss skier Andri Ragettli hit a triple-cork 1800 on his first run Saturday night off the big air jump; by his third run, he added another half-rotation to pull off the triple-cork 1980 and secure his first Aspen gold medal.
“The trip-19, I’ve never done it. It was my first try in a comp. That was really nice to land it perfect,” he said. “I’ve practiced the triple-cork 18 once here in practice, and I knew if everything was going perfect I land those tricks and I go for the 19 and I landed it as well.”
WHAT TO WATCH FOR DAY 3
With postponement of two snowboard events Saturday to Sunday, the final day’s schedule is a full one … and the broadcast schedule on a few outlets.
The postponeded events, men’s slopestyle and women’s big air, will be available live on @XGames Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, ESPN said in an update Saturday.
Best to start at XGames.com for information on how to watch in case things change again. But, be ready for Shaun White’s return to the superpipe Sunday night at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN.
Foodstuff: What are you doing for New Year’s Eve?
It’s almost time to ring in the new year and if your holiday schedule is shaping up to be as packed as mine, I wish you a well-deserved rest in 2024. In the meantime, it’s our chance to party, and party we shall.
