French skiers took the ski superpipe by storm on Thursday at the X Games. Kevin Rolland took first, and Benoit Valentin took third.
Telluride's Gus Kenworthy appeared to be on top after the first two runs with a score of 92.33. Gunning for big air, Rolland managed to edge him out.
"I was really under pressure, but I love it," Rolland said in a press conference, according to the Aspen Daily News. Rolland's huge double-cork spins on both sides and clean landings were enough to grab him the win.
The decision for the judges, however, was tough. Gus Kenworthy had a very comparable run. Rolland fell in his first two runs; his third clean run was the last of the competition.
The skiing superpipe was abridged this year. Only 12 athletes were invited to compete.
"There were no qualifiers, just straight finals, which makes it really intense," Kenworthy said, according to the Vail Daily. "Everyone is just going for it, it's crazy."
Kenworthy told an interviewer that his second run was his best ever in competition. The skier said on Wednesday that he rarely practices in the pipe, preferring big-air and slopestyle.
David Wise of Reno, Nev., a veteran and favorite in the competition, failed to complete a clean run. Alex Ferreira, an Aspen, Colo., native took fourth, and Torin Yater-Wallace, also from Aspen, coming back from a long period of injury and illness, took fifth.
Yater-Wallace lost 22 pounds due to a gallbladder infection and regained 12 before his Thursday run.
"I'm just happy to be out here," he told Aspen Times.
