MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN, CA (Jan. 29, 2017) – The 2017 Toyota U.S. Grand Prix tour concludes this week at one of the nation’s premier ski and snowboard resorts, Mammoth Mountain. The Grand Prix will serve as the first 2018 U.S. Olympic team qualifier for freeskiing slopestyle, freeskiing halfpipe and snowboarding slopestyle.

Recently recording the snowiest January on record, Mammoth Mountain is prepped and ready to host the world’s elite skiers and snowboarders. No stranger to top-level winter sports athletes, Mammoth has long served as a training ground for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association's top athletes, providing a world-class halfpipe, slopestyle and big air training ground for America’s best snowboarders and skiers, as well as hosting Project Gold development camps that take place each May.

ASPEN, CO (Jan­. 29, 2017) – Four American men made the slopestyle final at X Games on Sunday, where they faced off against perhaps the most competitive field of the season. Top finisher Brock Crouch (Mammoth Lakes, CA) had an excellent showing, finishing seventh.

At 17 years of age, the U.S. Snowboarding rookie team member looked like a seasoned veteran on the X Games course. Crouch was the first to drop and he put down a dialed run, one that put him in the gold-medal position for more than half of the first runs.

Marcus Kleveland of Norway topped the field to earn his second medal of the week; he also earned silver in big air on Friday night. The strong Canadians took the other two podium spots—Tyler Nicholson earned silver and Mark McMorris the bronze.

Also making the final for the Americans was Kyle Mack (West Bloomfield, MI) in eighth, Brandon Davis (Big Bear, CA) in 11^th and Eric Beauchemin (Grand Blanc, MI) in 12^th.  

ASPEN, CO (Jan­. 28, 2017) – American women took two of the three podium spots in halfpipe at the X Games on Saturday night. Elena Hight (South Lake Tahoe, CA) won her first X Games gold medal and Chloe Kim (Torrance, CA) earned bronze.  

In a contest where only six of 18 runs were landed, Hight rose above the field by being the only athlete to land both of her passes. She put down a highly technical run that included a back-to-back 900 combo and an alley-oop backside rodeo. The 27 year old already owns three silver and two bronze medals, but it was her first gold in 13 appearances.

Kim, who was the three-time defending gold medalist, also put down a technical run full of switch tricks but it wasn’t enough to top the field in 2017. Kim and Hight were joined on the podium by Xuetong Cai of China, who earned silver.   

ASPEN, CO (Jan­. 28, 2017) – U.S. Snowboarding athlete Julia “Jules” Marino (Westport, CT) had a breakout performance this week at the X Games. After earning a bronze medal in big air on Thursday night, she dominated the slopestyle competition on Saturday, stomping her way to a gold medal. She bested veteran Jamie Anderson (South Lake Tahoe, CA), who earned silver.   

Marino became the first female snowboarder to earn two medals at a single X Games since Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) earned medals in both snowboardcross and slopestyle 14 years ago. Marino earned a score of 94.66 for a nearly flawless run that featured a technical rail section and a huge, perfectly stomped Cab double underflip on the final jump.

ASPEN, CO (Jan­. 27, 2017) – Kyle Mack (West Bloomfield, MI) was the only American facing off against a stacked international field in men’s snowboard big air at X Games on Friday night. Mack rode well, finishing sixth overall.    

Mack threw the backside triple cork Japan he used to win the Burton U.S. Open in March of 2016. In the two-runs-count format, he also threw a frontside 1440 tail grab. Canadian Max Parrot won gold with a first-in-competition quadruple Cab underflip and Norwegian phenom Marcus Kleveland earned silver with a first-in-competition backside quadruple cork 1800.

Up next for the U.S. Snowboarding athletes at X Games is women’s slopestyle on Saturday afternoon, as well as women’s halfpipe on Saturday night.

HIGHLIGHTS

ASPEN, CO (Jan­. 26, 2017) – Young Hailey Langland (San Clemente, CA) put down an historical performance in Thursday night’s big air competition at X Games, winning gold with a trick that had never before been landed by a female in competition. Julia Marino (Westport, CT) joined Langland on the podium, earning bronze at her first X Games appearance.

Langland stomped a Cab double cork 1080 off the 80-foot big air jump at Aspen to earn the highest score of the competition (49 out of 50). It was a trick that only one woman had landed before—Langland herself, when she did so in warm ups just before the comp.

“Tonight was the first time I tried (the Cab double cork 1080),” Langland said after the competition. “It happened totally by accident in practice. I’m so stoked.”

ASPEN, CO (Jan­. 26, 2017) – Emerging from one of the most competitive fields ever to compete in men’s halfpipe at X Games, Americans Matt Ladley (Steamboat Springs, CO) and Taylor Gold (Steamboat Springs, CO) scored podium finishes, earning silver and bronze respectively.

Ladley, who won X Games gold at Aspen in 2016, had a beautiful run that featured a huge backside 900 linked to a frontside 1260. The silver was his second medal in six X Games appearances. Ladley also won the Park City U.S. Grand Prix in 2016.

It was a triumphant return for 23-year-old Gold, who spent all of 2016 sidelined while recovering from a broken kneecap. He knew that he had the tricks going into the 2017 X Games, and the 2014 Olympian seemed to pick up right where he left off, landing a run that included a 22-foot chicken-wing McTwist. His sister, Arielle, will compete in women’s halfpipe at X Games on Saturday night.

Before the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix kicked off a Solitude Mountain Resort, a group of U.S. Snowboarding snowboardcross riders took a moment off of training to visit with a local Boys and Girls Club in Salt Lake City.

Read about their visit and the rewarding impact it left on the team from Team USA.

SOLITUDE, UT (Jan. 22, 2017) – American snowboardcross athletes continued their successful run on home soil Sunday at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Solitude Mountain Resort. In Sunday's team event, Rosie Mancari (Anchorage, AK) and Lindsey Jacobellis (Stowe, VT) took the win for the ladies, while Alex Deibold (Boulder, CO) and Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA) combined to take third place for the men.    

The snowy conditions that plagued Saturday’s event moved out of the area and the course stayed relatively clear of snow overnight, which made conditions much faster for Sunday’s team event.

Jacobellis and Mancari combined fast speeds and strategies to take the win for the U.S. “Last run was fighting the whole way down,” Jacobellis said after the race. “We were all really close and I was just trying to take away lines and options and slow down the girls so that Rosie did not have to fight through the pack.”

SOLITUDE, UT (Jan. 21, 2017) – It was a battle with Mother Nature as well as a battle on the snowboardcross course this weekend at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Solitude Mountain Resort. Alex Deibold (Boulder, CO) and Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton, VT) overcame challenging conditions to score podium finishes for the U.S., each taking third place in the big finals.  

While inches of fluffy white snow poured from the sky, the course built by Nick Roma remained fast and challenging—the perfect setting to feature the fastest snowboarders on the planet. However, the conditions also hindered the race from starting on time, as Big Cottonwood Canyon—the canyon that connects Salt Lake City to Solitude—continued to close due to the thick snow and capture athletes in a long wait to reach the resort.