After much anticipation, X Games Aspen 2020 has officially kicked off at Buttermilk Mountain.
On Wednesday (January 22), snowboarders Scotty James, Max Parrot and Anna Gasser, along with skiers Gus Kenworthy and Kelly Sildaru gathered inside Studio X at X Fest for a special panel that was hosted by Jack Mitrani.
At the panel, James, Parrot, Gasser, Kenworthy and Sildaru talked about the addition of new disciplines, the future of their respective sports and some of the obstacles they overcame to be here at the Games this week.
“For me, aside from the Olympics, like nothing is in comparison to the X Games so I’m just stoked to have more X Games,” Gus Kenworthy shared. “Of course, there’s other events and they all have merit, but in my eyes, this is what I dreamed of as a kid and this is still the top tier and the best you can do. This is the world’s stage; Olympics happen every four years, but X Games happen every year, now like three times a year.”
“Missing a whole season was really hard for me to not be able to do my passion and when you don’t do it for a little while,” Parrot added. “I already knew how much I loved it but you get to another level of how much you love doing your sport. Now I just enjoy it every day as much as I can, I’m just really having a blast.”
Following the Kickoff Panel, the first Elimination of the weekend began with the Monster Energy Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe Elimination. Throwing tricks that included a front 1080 double and a cab double 1080 in the new jam session format, Swiss rider Jan Scherrer took the top spot to move onto tonight’s final. Taylor Gold, Chase Josey, Toby Miller and Chase Blackwell will also move on, and you can catch the Monster Energy Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe at 10PM ET on ESPN.
You can view the press conference in its entirety below and make sure you’re following us on Instagram at @celebsecrets to see all the action from behind-the-scenes.
