Germany’s Zimmermann, Britain’s Woods win gold at ski big air events

In the first women’s ski big air competition in X Games Aspen history on Saturday at Buttermilk, Germany’s Lisa Zimmermann, 20, won gold in her first X Games appearance.

Zimmermann — a three-time winner of Nine Queens, considered to be the most prestigious women’s big air competition — finished with an 85, edging the 84 of Estonia teen Kelly Sildaru and the 82 of Switzerland’s Giulia Tanno. The contest was a 25-minute jam session, with the scores a combination of the top two runs.

Sildaru, who won gold in ski slopestyle at X Games Aspen in 2016 and took fourth in big air at X Games Oslo last year, went back and forth with Zimmermann for first place during much of the competition. Zimmermann’s final two runs were duds compared with her first three, the third run producing her best score of 47, but it was enough to hold off Sildaru, who scored 42 on her final run to make up an extra point, but still fell one point short.

Fourth-place finisher Kaya Turski, a five-time X Games gold medalist in slopestyle from Canada, matched Zimmermann with a 47 on her final run for the best run of the contest. She didn’t have a strong enough score to pair with it, however, falling short of the podium with 76.

The women’s ski slopestyle final is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday, and will include many of the big air athletes, such as last year’s champion Sildaru.

In Saturday’s men’s ski big air final, Britain’s James Woods won his first X Games gold with a score of 88. Henrik Harlaut, a three-time X Games gold medalist, including twice in the Aspen big air event, took silver.

The two actually tied with 88 points each, however Woods won the tiebreaker. They each put down runs of 46, 42 and 41. It came down to the fourth run, Woods’ 37 beating Harlaut’s 27.

Switzerland’s Kai Mahler took bronze for his fourth career X Games medal. Denver’s Bobby Brown, a three-time X Games gold medalist, was fourth.

acolbert@aspentimes.com