© Debbie Preistly
© Stef Cande/C. Van Hanja/ESPN Images
© Debbie Preistly
© Debbie Preistly
Watch X Games live at home
See all the action from the third European X Games in Tignes
With the third European Winter X-Games in Tignes taking place in a just a few days anticipation and excitement about the event is building. If you can’t be there in person to watch the event you can still keep up with all the action via the live web feed.
This year promises to be the best yet. Record snowfalls across France have given Tignes some of the best snow it’s seen in forty years. Added to that the weather forecast is looking pretty good for the three days of the comp. Best of all though is the line-up of skiers and snowboarders who will be competing in this year’s event. The starting list reads like a who’s who of freestyle with some old favourites, some young guns and some genuine superstars all facing off for the X-Games medals.
The big news for this year’s event is that Shaun White will be competing. The winner of 12 X-Games gold medals for snowboarding and 22 X-Games medals in total this will be Shaun’s first appearance at X-Games Europe and all eyes will be in on him. Despite scoring a perfect 100 at X-Games in Aspen earlier this year Shaun does not have a guaranteed first place as the Snowboard Superpipe is a hotly contested field. Watch out for Iouri “I-Pod” Podtladtchicov, Scotty Lago, Luke Mitrani, Mathieu Crepel and Danny Davis
When the skiers hit the pipe it will be without reigning champion and local hero Kevin Rolland. After damaging his ACL in Meribel earlier this month Rolland is unable to defend his X-Games title and this means that the hopes of the local crowd will rest heavily on the shoulders of Xavier Bertoni. The Frenchman has always had to settle for places behind Kevin Rolland in Tignes but this year he could take the top spot in front of the home crowd. He will of course have to fend off a very strong field. My pick for gold in men’s Superpipe in Tignes is the youngster Torin Yater-Wallace. He’s only 16 but he has taken Gold in the Superpipe competition before and recently stomped his way into history by landing the first 1800 in a freestyle competition. That's five complete rotations!!
When the women hit the pipe look out for X-Games gold medallist and Olympic champion Torah Bright. She’ll be fighting off strong competition from the likes of 2010 Champion Kaitlyn Farrington, Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark.
The Ski Slopestyle is my favourite even of the competition and this year’s line-up looks sick! Watch out for Andreas Hatveit from Sweden and Phil Casabon from Canada. Don’t miss the run from Tom Wallish to see a master class in afterbang either. But when it comes to support make sure you’re cheering for last year’s bronze medallist, Brit hero and all round nice lad; James Woods. Woodsy will be on course and hopefully on the podium on Thursday 15th.
In the Men’s category make sure you don’t miss the runs from Mark McMorris and Seb Touts but save your cheers for Jamie Nicholls. After an injury to his knee at the Burton European Open Jamie’s participation is not confirmed but hopefully he’ll be fit and on form. If he is medals could be hanging round the Halifax lad’s neck by next weekend.
Cheers in the Women’s event should be saved for Brits Aimee Fuller and three times X-Games Gold medal winner Jenny Jones. But they have fight on their hands with a very strong field of the best riders in the world; Jamie Anderson, Kjersti Buass, Cilja Norendal and Enni Rukajarvi are all riding strong and the UK girls will need to put down their best runs for a hope at a podium spot.
Whoever comes out on top the competition promises to be one of the highlights of the season in Europe and you can watch it all live here.
To make sure you don’t miss the Brits in action or your favourite event here’s the schedule too.
Wednesday, March 14th
9am – 10.30am Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe practice
10am – 12pm Snowboard Slopestyle Men’s elimination
10.30am – 12pm Men’s Ski SuperPipe practice
12am – 1.15pm Ski Slopestyle practice
1.30pm – 2.45pm Ski Slopestyle Men’s final
3pm – 4pm Slopestyle practice
6.30pm – 8pm Snowboard SuperPipe Men’s final
8.30pm – 10pm Ski SuperPipe Men’s elimination
Thursday, March 15th
10.30am – 11.45am Snowboard Slopestyle Men’s final
1pm – 2pm Snowboard Slopestyle Women’s final
6.15pm – 7.30pm Ski SuperPipe Women’s final
8pm – 9.30pm Ski SuperPipe Men’s final
Friday, March 16th
10.30am – 11.45am Snowboard Slopestyle Men’s final
1pm – 2pm Snowboard Slopestyle Women’s final
6.15pm – 7.30pm Ski SuperPipe Women’s final
8pm – 9.30pm Ski SuperPipe Men’s final
