With slopestyle win, Tess Ledeux doubles down on X Games gold

It’s Tess Ledeux’s world, we’re all just living in it. A day after WINNING THE 2022 X GAMES WOMEN’S SKI BIG AIR, Ledeux doubled down with a win in the women’s ski slopestyle contest—becoming the first female skier to win both contests at one X Games.

“It’s just a dream come true,” said a visibly moved Ledeux as she was handed her medal. “I’m just so happy. It’s amazing. I have no words.”

On a perfect contest day in Aspen, Colorado, something indefinable seemed off during women’s slope. Perhaps it was simply the specter of the coming Olympic Games hanging in the air. The normally infallible Kelly Sildaru—who until now, has won every X Games slopestyle that she’s entered—crashed on her first run and quickly withdrew from the contest. Other leading talents like Maggie Voisin also struggled with the course.

But Tess Ledeux was definitely on like she’s never been before. She landed one run better than the next, culminating with a near-perfect third run: switch left 720 on, pretzel 270 out; switch right 270 on, continuing 270; backside 450 safety out; switch left 1080 japan; switch right 900 safety; and her trademark left double cork 1260 mute to cap it off. Her rails were on point, her grabs were locked—it doesn’t get much better than this.

Despite her stellar performance, a few other competitors still gave Ledeux a chance to worry. After warming up slowly during her first runs, Swiss powerhouse Mathilde Gremaud finally came out firing. She landed three different 270 variations in the rails, including a perfect lip 270 on, into two double corks in the jumps—a forward double 10 and switch double 10. If she’d landed her third run, she might well have taken over the lead. But she overrated her final switch double, and had to settle for second place for the day.

Gremaud wasn’t the only girl packing two different doubles. Canada’s Megan Oldham—who stomped the day’s biggest dub 12 on her first run—went for broke on her final run, adding a switch double cork 900 in addition to her 12. The improvement was just good enough for her to take over the bronze medal, bumping Norway’s Johanne Killi off the podium.

The day’s other major surprise came from Kirsty Muir. The 17-year-old from Scotland entered the contest at the last minute as an alternate, but quickly set to work turning heads with a strong rail section including a 450 on to switch. In the jumps, she stepped things up with a switch misty 900 tail and a surprise left double cork 12 safety, earning herself a fifth-place finish.