WINTER X GAMES. Kaya Turski earned her second straight women's Winter X Slopestyle gold medal on Thursday, beating out Keri Herman in second and Grete Eliassen in third, an identical podium to the 2010 Winter X women's Slopestyle.

Keri Herman's last run catapulted her from second to last to second place, photo credit: Mark Kohlman/ESPN Action Sports

This is Turski's first contest since having knee surgery last April after tearing her ACL on the final jump at the Winter X Europe Slopestyle, which she also won. "I'm obviously ecstatic and really relieved," Turski said after her win. "I put a lot of pressure on myself coming into this event. The girls definitely put on a good show and gave me a run for my money and I'm just happy I pulled through."

Turski took the reins early with a first run that included a 360, a 540 and a switch 7, earning her a 93.66, the highest score of the day. Turski's first run and Herman's third run were nearly identical in the jump section, but it was Turski's prowess in the rails that vaulted her to the top of the podium.

Herman was in 9th place after her first run and crashed at the top of her second run. But then on her third and final run, Herman's smooth 360, 540, and a switch corked 7 earned her a score of 93.33, good enough for second place. "I am most excited," Herman said. "I was in [second to] last. Now I'm in second. My nerves are going crazy. I am so pumped."

On her second run, Eliassen chose a different rail line than the rest of the field and dazzled the judges with a corked 7, a 360 nose grab, and a 900 on the final jump. On her final run, Eliassen's skiing appeared clean enough to put the pressure on Turski until a hand drag on the landing of a 900 on the last jump left her relying on her second run score of 93.00, which put her in third. "I'm usually in the backcountry skiing, so coming to this is just bonus," Eliassen said. "But of course I want to do well."

Ashley Battersby, who celebrated her birthday Thursday, skied well throughout the contest and was in third until Herman's final run pushed her down to fourth, the same place she earned last year in this event. "It's the same field every time," Battersby said. "They're a bunch of good skiers. I'm just happy I skied so well."

Jen Hudak, the 2010 Winter X women's Superpipe champion, who was standing in the spectator area during the Slopestyle finals, said it was the best finals she's ever seen. "Every single girl was spinning both ways," Hudak said. "We saw super off axis tricks, inverted tricks, so many switch tricks. Girls are getting so much more technical on rails, and then there's style and I think for me style is when you start noticing the sport breaking off. When it comes down to it, you have to have style to do well."

And with the most competitive women's Slopestyle field in Winter X history, style was Turski's strong suit. "I definitely was stressed out up there because the girls were killing it one after the other," Turski said. "They were just insane runs."

By John Symms and Megan Michelson
ESPN Action Sports
January 28, 2011, 1:49 AM ET

Barely recovered from shoulder surgery, Sarah Burke gets her fourth WX gold

Sarah Burke won her fourth Winter X SuperPipe gold medal Thursday night under the lights at Winter X 15 at Buttermilk, Colo. Winter X rookie Brita Sigourney placed second, and Roz Groenewoud rounded out the podium.

Sarah Burke is officially back in the game, photo credit: Trevor Brown Jr./ESPN Action Sports

Burke, who qualified in the last position for Thursday night's final, earned the highest score -- a 91.33 -- for her second run, which included back-to-back flairs, a 720 and a corked 900.

"It feels great," Burke said, "and all it took was nine hard days of training." Recovering from a shoulder surgery she underwent this past summer after a disappointing 2010 contest season (she placed sixth in Slopestyle and SuperPipe at Winter X last year), Burke wasn't cleared by her doctor to ski halfpipe until less than two weeks before Thursday night's contest.

The biggest moment of the night might have been the third and final run from reigning champion Jen Hudak. After falling on her first run and taking a conservative second run that had her sitting in fifth place, Hudak dropped into the pipe determined to defend her title. When her skis touched down on her final hit, the crowd had already begun to celebrate. But it was too quick -- some slough in the flat bottom took her off her feet, robbing her of what would have been the first 1080 by a woman in Ski SuperPipe competition. "I've never felt so good mentally and physically and have that happen," Hudak said afterward. "I've never had so many compliments from people for not being on the podium. I stuck the 10, but I just didn't. I'm frustrated."

For Sigourney, 21, her first Winter X appearance couldn't have gone any better. "I came here just wanting to have fun. I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself," she said. "And that's exactly what I did. I'm really shocked."

Groenewoud, who won the 2010 Grand Prix in December, was the only competitor Friday night who did a switch trick. "I'm disappointed with how the night went because I had a lot of new tricks I was working on that I didn't get to bring out," she said. "But I'm happy to be on the podium."

By John Symms and Megan Michelson
ESPN Action Sports
January 28, 2011, 2:31 AM ET

PROGRAM Winter X Games 15 finals

Thursday, Jan. 27 2011
Skiing Slopestyle Women's Final
Skiing SuperPipe Women's Final

Friday, Jan. 28
Snowboard Snowboarder X Men's & Women's Qualifying
Skiing SuperPipe Men's Final
Snowboard Best Method Final
Snowboard Big Air Final

Saturday, Jan. 29
Snowboard Snowboarder X Men's Final
Snowboard Snowboarder X Women's Final
Skiing Slopstyle Men's Final
Snowboard Street Final
Snowboard SuperPipe Women's Final
Skiing Big Air Final

Sunday, Jan. 30
Snowboard Slopestyle Women's Final
Skiing Skier X Men's & Women's Final
Snowboard Slopestyle Men's Final
Mono Skier X Final
Snowboard SuperPipe Men's Final