WINTER X GAMES. John Teller edges out Chris Del Bosco for the Skier X win; Kelsey Serwa Crashes Across the Line for Gold in Women's Skier X; Josh Dueck wins Mono Skier X gold; After six years of trying, Sammy Carlson finally secured Winter X gold.

Teller wins men's Skier X
John Teller edges out Chris Del Bosco for the Skier X win
Skiing Skier X Men's Final

John Teller used a daring maneuver to pass defending Skier X champion Chris Del Bosco late in Sunday's final and win a surprise gold medal by half a ski length. In doing so, Teller made sure one of the Winter X Games' strangest streaks lived a 14th year: no man has ever repeated as Skier X champion.

Teller, a Mammoth Lakes, Calif., racer who earlier this month became the first American to win a World Cup ski cross race, shot by Del Bosco high on a banked turn. Del Bosco had been the fastest skier all week -- he beat the field by a whopping two seconds in Thursday's qualifying -- and had jumped out to an early lead by claiming the coveted holeshot off the start.

"During my semifinal heat, I watched the whole run from behind Del Bosco, and I kind of planned out a couple spots that I might be able to pass him," said Teller, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound auto mechanic. "That was exactly what I was planning on doing, and it just happened. I was in autopilot; I wasn't even thinking."

"It's tough when you're out front," said Del Bosco, who overcame alcohol addiction to become the feel-good story of last year's Winter X Games. "You're just a sitting duck with the draft here. You want to try and get a quick start and get out front, obviously, but it's tough to block. You can't really do much. But that's how it goes sometimes."

Casey Puckett, a two-time Skier X champ and hometown hero in Aspen, came out of semi-retirement to take bronze. The Winter X Games race is the only one he's doing this year.

Teller, 27, used some of the experience he gained by making the Skier X final last year, where he learned to be patient on the flat course at Buttermilk.

"Nobody's unbeatable out here," he said. "[Del Bosco is] so far ahead of everybody else, but if you can get into his slipstream, he'll bring you along with him like a trailer. That's the cool thing about our sport."

This week's field was missing two of the best teams in the world because the Austrians and Swiss elected to attend a World Cup race in Germany. Canadian head coach Eric Archer blamed the International Ski Federation.

"It's a big bummer that FIS scheduled the World Cup this weekend," Archer said. "I don't care about TV, I just think it's disrespectful to the sport. Hopefully they'll fix that next year so we can have a full field."

By Devon O'Neil
ESPN Action Sports
January 30, 2011, 5:43 PM ET

Serwa Crashes Across the Line for Gold
Kelsey Serwa wins Women's Skier X
Skiing Skier X Women's Final

Sitting on the snow dazed by one of the most spectacular crashes in recent Winter X Games memory, Kelsey Serwa had blood running down her nose and mouth and a swollen chin. Twenty feet away, four-time Skier X champion Ophelie David dabbed her lower lip with gauze, after biting two holes through it.

Once the carnage was cleaned up and everyone proved to be OK, Serwa celebrated the first gold medal of her career Sunday -- and the dramatic end of David's dominance.

Serwa, a 21-year-old from British Columbia who often trains with the Canadian men, waited until halfway through the neck-and-neck final to pass David. Then she held on until both straightlined into the climactic kicker and soared nearly half a football field, exploding upon impact as they crossed the finish line.

"Coming into the finish, we were going way faster than before," said Serwa, whose face looked like a cheese grater had run over it. "I knew that if I didn't send it, [David and bronze medalist Fanny Smith] would and they could pass me at the line. So I just went for it and got a little battered and scraped, but I'm super pumped. I just can't believe I'm going to be standing on top of the podium at X Games. That was my only goal this season."

David, 34, still had blood on her teeth during her post-race interview and had trouble speaking due to her swollen lip. "My last chance to pass Kelsey was if I didn't brake before the last jump," she said in her French accent. "It didn't work, but it was my last option. Right now I'm not so happy. Maybe I'll be happier in an hour."

Smith, an 18-year-old Swiss racer, picked up her first career Winter X medal, while David's silver marked the sixth straight year she's medaled in Aspen.

By Devon O'Neil
ESPN Action Sports
January 30, 2011, 6:38 PM ET

Josh Dueck wins Mono Skier X gold
Mono Skier X Final

Shortly after Josh Dueck crossed the finish line to win Mono Skier X gold Sunday, his two lives converged. Justin Dorey and TJ Schiller, two freeskiing superstars whom Dueck coached as kids in Vernon, B.C., walked up to congratulate him.

"That was the best ever," Schiller said. "Why didn't they open the big jump for you?"

Dueck laughed. Before a failed frontflip ended in paralysis seven years ago, he might have been the one to commend Dorey or Schiller on a gold medal-winning performance. As it is, only one member of the famed Vernon new-school crew won gold this year: the guy who jumps road gaps in his sit-ski.

Dueck's gold was never in doubt. With three-time gold medalist Tyler Walker crashing in his semifinal heat and missing the final, the 30-year-old Canuck led from start to finish. His lead was enabled by a start-gate snafu that tripped up two of the four finalists.

"I felt super bad because somebody got squirrelly next to me out of the start, and I got nervous and squirrelly, and I bumped into the other guy," said Dueck, who was making his X Games debut. "I think that gave me the holeshot, but I felt terrible. That course is so much fun, though. The builders at X build it with safety in mind, but they also build it with progression in mind. So you know you can just point it."

Colorado racer Brandon Adams claimed silver while Great Britain's Sean Rose took bronze, making it three X Games rookies on the podium. Adams failed to clear the knuckle on the final jump, sending his ski twirling through the air as he slid across the finish line. "I scrubbed way too much speed and knucked it bad," Adams said. "That's just unacceptable."

By Devon O'Neil
ESPN Action Sports
January 30, 2011, 7:20 PM ET

The year of Sammy and the rookie
After six years of trying, Sammy Carlson finally secured Winter X gold
A recap of Skiing Slopstyle Men's Final

There was a 15-year-old hometown boy who beat his childhood idol. There was the return to No. 1 by a pioneer of women's freeskiing. There was the golden boy who rode through an injured hip. Winter X 15 was full of spotlit moments, as always.

After six years of trying, Sammy Carlson finally secured Winter X gold, photo: Mark Kohlman/ESPN Action Sports

But one skier stood out among the rest this week in Aspen, Colo. He's a skier who's been around for a long time, even though he's just 22. Going into this week, he'd competed in five Winter X Games and earned three medals, two silvers and a bronze. He's widely considered as one of the best skiers on the planet -- he has award-winning film segments, groundbreaking new tricks, and countless contest podiums. But there was one thing Sammy Carlson didn't have: a Winter X Games gold medal.

So when he dropped into the Slopestyle course for his first run during Saturday's finals, even though he said earlier, "I don't think specifically about a gold," we all knew that's exactly what Carlson wanted. It wouldn't be easy -- any of the eight guys in the finals had the skills to win. But Carlson skied the rails at the top of the course with a sense of style and ease that made everyone else look almost clumsy. After he won, Carlson received 92 text messages (and counting) congratulating him.

The story of Carlson -- the guy who flirted with victory for five years before achieving it -- is countered by the success of the rookie at this year's Winter X. The upstarts were a dominating force this year, a reminder that the next generation is hungry and they're learning faster than ever before. In the women's field, 17-year-old Devin Logan won the Superpipe qualifiers and was the only female skier to compete in both Slope and Pipe, and newbie Brita Sigourney, 21, threw down to earn a silver in Pipe finals. In the men's field, 15-year-old Torin Yater-Wallace boosted higher out of the pipe than long-time vets, earning a surprise silver medal, and first-timer Alex Schlopy, 18, shocked even himself by winning Big Air against a deeply talented field.

The future looks bright for our sport. Even though no headline-worthy new tricks were unveiled in skiing at this year's Winter X, there were hints of what's to come. Russ Henshaw attempted a switch triple rodeo 12 in Big Air training, knocking himself out of the contest in the process. Jen Hudak nearly landed the first 1080 in women's Superpipe, but a snow snake took her off her feet. There will be more failures along the way, more disappointments, more broken bones. But you can't deny that the sport of freeskiing is moving forward at a frenzied and rapid pace. Tricks that were revolutionary last year, like TJ Schiller's 1620 in Big Air, are now almost standard practice just 12 months later. Imagine, if you can, what next year will bring.

By Megan Michelson
ESPN Action Sports
January 31, 2011, 2:24 AM ET

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