Participants and spectators alike have been counting down the days to one of the most celebrated action sporting events around: The Winter X Games. Starting Thursday, the X Games are taking over Aspen, Colorado.
For an industry defined by firsts, expectations are paramount. Here are a few noteworthy story lines you can follow this year.
Winter X will be using drones for the first time to capture the action surrounding the snowboardcross and snowmobiling events. ESPN senior coordinating producer Rich Feinberg told The Associated Press, “[Winter X has] always been an event that has, in many aspects, been a working laboratory for technical innovation.”
Because the drones must be kept inside a “closed-set environment,” viewers will likely see footage captured from above, aside, and behind racers on the snowboardcross course, and at the end of the snowmobiling course.
Shaun White may or may not be the best snowboarder in the world anymore, but he’s certainly still the biggest name. Photo courtesy of Joshua Duplechian/ESPN
Other notable news lays to rest speculation about whether two-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White will or will not compete this year. Interestingly, his name was still missing from Tuesday’s confirmed athlete list, but as reported by the New York Times, White showed up to superpipe practice Monday night, seemingly eager to compete in the superpipe finals Thursday night. “Maybe I’ll get to throw some runs I didn’t get to throw at Sochi,” he told the newspaper.
The jury is still out on whether the Shaun White who shows up will be the two-time Olympic gold medalist and 15-time Winter X Games gold medalist Shaun White or the Shaun White who finished a disappointing fourth in the halfpipe final at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where he also bowed out of the slopestyle competition citing concerns over a dangerous course.
[Related: Why I cried for Shaun White]
With outside interests such as his band, Bad Things, and Air & Style, a competitive snowboarding series and music festival he bought a majority stake in, only time will tell.
The return of Mono Skier X after a three-year hiatus was such big news that Paralympic medalist Josh Dueck came out of retirement to compete. Photo courtesy of Joshua Duplechian/ESPN
In other firsts, 10 Special Olympics snowboarders will be paired with X Games stars (think Hannah Teter, Ken Block, and Torah Bright) in a dual slalom team event when Special Olympics Unified Snowboarding makes its debut.
Fans will no doubt be inspired by these athletes’ unwavering commitment to their sports.
Additionally, the Snowboarder X Adaptive event will be brought back as a full competition; it was previously staged as a demonstration in Winter X Games 2011 and 2012. It joins Mono Skier X and Snocross Adaptive in the new lineup.
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