Aspen, CO – Canadian skier Chris Del Bosco won his second Skier X title in three years at the Winter X Games in Aspen on Sunday and teammate Dave Duncan took bronze as Canada’s all-conquering ski cross team put on another show of strength. Filip Flisar, of Slovenia, was second.
Del Bosco, who won gold at the X Games in 2010 and silver last year, was a dominant force from the quarter-finals on, as he used his full arsenal of slick passing moves and great technique to pick off his rivals on the super-sized course and claim another Skier X title.
“Oh man, I feel great,” said Del Bosco, who lives Montreal, Quebec but whose hometown is in Vail, Colo. “It’s been kind of an up and down season and I was hoping to come here and have a big day. I’m feeling good about my skiing and it all came together. To come here and win gold with Duncan on the podium, it’s a great day.”
In the men’s final, Finland’s Jouni Pellinen got out to an early lead, but Del Bosco used the inside line on the first turn to move to the front of the pack. Del Bosco found himself in the bronze-medal position but set himself up for a big pass on the triple and made it count.
“This course is set up really well for me,” Del Bosco said. “I knew the triple was one of the spots where I could make a move if I needed to make something happen. I kind of set it up a couple of turns before.”
Del Bosco, the reigning ski cross world champion, won his quarter-final and semifinal races en route to the final. In Skier X, six racers compete head to head, with the top three advancing to the next round.
“He was very smart today,” Eric Archer, head coach of the Canadian team, said of Del Bosco. “His technique is really good. He didn’t always have the fastest start but he made sure he was in a good position going into the first turn.”
Within hours of the race finishing Del Bosco had already set his sights on repeating next year. No man has ever won gold in successive Skier X finals at the X Games, although Del Bosco came close last year when he followed up his win from 2010 with a silver medal.
“This is one of my favourite events. It’s huge,” Del Bosco said. “I’ve given myself the chance to break the curse next year.”
Duncan, of London, Ontario – who had to fight his way out of tough positions all day long – scrambled his way into third place with a gritty performance on what was a hard-fought and tightly-contested day of racing.
“It was close all the way through,” Duncan said. “The guys were all side-by-side. It was a definite battle out there.”
Duncan won his quarter-final and finished third in his semifinal to squeeze into the medal round.
“Dunc battled hard today,” said Archer. “It was a bit of a battle at times but he kept moving on.”
After winning X Games silver in 2010, Duncan was happy to get on the podium again.
“We all want gold but I think you can be happy with any position on the podium here,” he said. “It’s the biggest course of the year. It’s the biggest event of the year.”
The Canadian team – wearing helmet stickers bearing the initials “SB” in honor of freestyle skier Sarah Burke – had all eight men’s team members competing in the quarter-finals.
In his 10th and announced final Winter X Games, American skier Casey Puckett, of Aspen, Colo., finished fifth. A five-time Olympian (four of those times as an alpine ski racer), two-time X Games Skier X champion and three-time medalist, Puckett said prior to the final that it would be his last run.
In the women’s race, Whistler, British Columbia’s Marielle Thompson looked destined to win gold when she got off to a great start in the final and took the lead. She then made a great pass to move back into first place after being pushed into second. But with a clear path in front of her, she lost control on a tight turn and went down.
“I skied really well and I’m happy about that but not so happy with myself for making a mistake,” Thompson said. “I just got kind of squeezed in that turn.”
That left room for Norway’s Marte Gjefsen, who came to Buttermilk Mountain for Winter X Games Aspen 2012 with casts on both hands. But she didn’t let that deter her, as she raced down the mountain, avoided accidents and took the gold in Women’s Skier X.
“With my hands, I had trouble with the start,” an elated Gjefsen said. “I had to trust my gliding skills and pass the other girls further down the coarse and that’s what happened in the final. I knew I had to stay focused down the coarse, after I hit the last jump I realized I was going to win this. I’m just so happy.”
Her fellow countrywoman, Hedda Berntsen followed her across the finish line for silver. Berntsen also took the silver in the event in 2008. Australia’s Jenny Owens crossed the finish line in third place, taking home the bronze – her first Winter X Games medal.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Winter X Games
Buttermilk Mountain – Aspen, Colo. – Jan. 29, 2012
Skier X
Men:
| Name | Bib No. | Hometown | Time | |
| 1. | Chris Del Bosco | 106 | Vail, Colo. | 1:20.589 |
| 2. | Filip Flisar | 110 | Maribor, Slovenia | 1:20.730 |
| 3. | Dave Duncan | 108 | Golden, B.C. Canada | 1:20.814 |
| 4. | Jouni Pellinen | 122 | Helsinki, Finland | 1:21.006 |
| 5. | Casey Puckett | 123 | Aspen, Colo. | 1:21.448 |
| 6. | Christian Mithassel | 120 | Oslo, Norway | 1:21.927 |
Women:
| Name | Bib No. | Hometown | Time | |
| 1. | Marte Gjefsen | 155 | Lillehammer, Norway | 1:26.877 |
| 2. | Hedda Berntsen | 152 | Oslo, Norway | 1:27.792 |
| 3. | Jenny Owens | 159 | Freshwater, Australia | 1:29.055 |
| 4. | Marielle Berger | 151 | Les Arcs, France | 1:29.167 |
| 5. | Marielle Thompson | 162 | Whistler, B.C., Canada | 2:00.272 |
| 6. | Sanna Luedi | 156 | Leimiswil, Switzerland | DNF |