Return to basics helps snowboarder Elena Hight win first X Games gold
ASPEN, Colo. — For the past six months, Elena Hight has focused on the fundamentals of her snowboarding.
A pioneer of big tricks — including the first double cork a woman has landed in the halfpipe — Hight went back to basics.
Edging, board control and timing drew her focus.
“Everything when you’re on the snow, basically,” said Hight, a two-time Olympian. “I feel good when I’m in the air.”
She felt pretty good on Saturday, winning her first X Games gold medal in her 13th appearance here. Hight’s win at Buttermilk Mountain — one she took with a score of 87.33 on a frigid night in an icy halfpipe — was her first podium finish since 2013.
While she has three silver and two bronze medals, she finished eighth in each of the past three years.
“I’ve had a couple rough years here and, honestly, it’s been hard,” said Hight, 27. “Sometimes you just come out here and it doesn’t go your way and other times you just aren’t riding as good as the rest of the girls, so I think that I really came out here tonight, my goal was to land my run and I wasn’t really focused on medals. I think that that really helped me because I wasn’t focused on the outcome, more just riding for me.”
Hight sat in second after the first round — one that was delayed at least 20 minutes by the lights on one side of the pipe going out — before landing her winning run early in the second round.
With a firm pipe and slick conditions, Hight landed a run with two 720s and two 900s that she hadn’t even put down in practice.
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She waited anxiously at the base of the halfpipe as riders like Kelly Clark, the winningest snowboarder ever, and Chloe Kim, the two-time defending champion, put down their runs.
Clark landed her run after falling on her first one, but was knocked off the podium by Kim. Chinese rider Xuetong Cai took silver for a second consecutive year.
Kim, 16, came into the contest with eight consecutive wins dating back to last season before taking bronze.
Given the delay, which came before she was set to ride in the first round, Kim was happy with the outcome.
“I was just happy I was able to put something down in my second run,” Kim said. “Honestly, I don’t really care about results. I’m all about doing the best I can despite the situation, so I’m really happy with the way I rode.”
So was Hight, who has gained perspective later in her career.
“I was that Chloe girl one time in my career. I was the girl who was 13 showing up at events and pushing the old girls,” she said. “For me, it’s really cool. It’s all about now I’m finding new motivation and I get stoked by these girls. I love seeing the progression of the sport.”
Hight will still be a part of it, though. After failing to make the Olympic team in 2014, Hight has her sights on PyeongChang just more than a year away.
“With this round of Olympics coming up, my goal this year was to do just that — use this season to really hammer into my fundamentals and get my riding up to par and go into next year really strong,” she said. “I’m definitely vying to go to PyeongChang.”