Aspen, CO – Hood River, Ore.’s Sammy Carlson flew to gold in Saturday’s Winter X Games slopestyle skiing in Aspen, outdueling Australia’s Russ Henshaw and Norway’s Andreas Hatveit.nCarlson, normally known for his technical rail slides and styley grabs, put together the most complete performance of the day on his first finals run, scoring a 93.33. The runwas good enough to stave off strong late runs by Henshaw and Hatveit.

Despite worldwide competition success and some of the most recognizable film segments in the history of the sport, Carlson was winless at Winter X through five attempts. This sixth appearance yielded gold however, breaking that streak and adding to the Oregon native’s silver in the 2009 slopestyle and bronze in 2010.

Carlson finished as the only American on the podium after Hatveit bumped last year’s Winter X slopestyle champion Bobby Brown, of Breckenridge, Colo., out of the top three. Brown was considered a favorite to repeat and put down a first run that had him in the medal hunt. Unfortunately, he was unable to build on his first score, finishing fourth.

Both Carlson and Brown are anticipated to represent the U.S. in this week’s FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships. The pair will have a chance to capture the gold in slopestyle skiing’s debut at World Championships. The 2011 U.S. World Championship Team will be today during a press conference at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah.

The slopestyle skiing competition will take place on Feb. 3 at Park City Mountain Resort in Park City.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Winter X Games
Aspen, CO – Jan. 29, 2011
Slopestyle

1. Sammy Carlson, Hood River, OR, 93.33
2. Russ Henshaw, Australia, 90.66
3. Andreas Hatveit, Norway, 90.00