THE NEW FACE OF FREESTYLE SKIING
Kelly Sildaru, 13, of Estonia takes it easy over the last two jumps of her final run during the women’s ski slopestyle finals Friday at the Winter X Games at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen. Sildaru won the event, with her first run earning a score of 93, making her the youngest competitor ever to win gold at the Winter X Games. The 5- foot- 1, 88- pound athlete— the shortest and lightest one at this year’s Winter X— has been heralded since 2011 as the future of freeskiing.
aspen » Freeskiing prodigy Kelly Sildaru is too young to compete in World Cup contests. But she isn’t too young to win them.
The 13-year- oldYouTube sensation from Estonia became the youngestWinter X Games gold medalist Friday, spinning her trademark switch 900s both left and right to earn the biggest win of her career, which began with Internet videos showing her technical skills as a precocious 10- year- old doing tricks that challenged pros.
The 5- foot- 1, 88- pound athlete— the lightest and shortest at Winter X this year — has been heralded as the future of freeskiing since 2011. She confirmed her catalyst status in Decemberwhen shewon the Dew Tour stop in Breckenridge, beating athletes who had been competing for asmany years as she has been alive.
Her win Friday in the slopestyle contest ranked as the first WinterXGames medal forEstonia, where she rides a 100- meter hill near her home.
“It is hard there because we don’t have mountains,” said Sildaru, who travels across Europe to ski in the winter.
She said shewas nervous Friday, but when asked how she dealt with her nervousness, she just giggled and pointed to her Red Bull helmet.
“That’s in your head,” she said, her arm wrapped with a Sarah ribbon honoring freeskiing pioneer Sarah Burke, who died in 2012 in a halfpipe
accident just before theXGames.
Sildaru didn’t appear nervous on the course Friday, delivering the variety and difficulty that judges want. Her first of three runs ranked as the best — earning her 93 points, which survived the best freeskiers in the world.
Norway’s Tiril Sjastad Christiansen earned silver, and her teammate, Johanne Killi, took bronze.
“Thiswas the toughest competition we have ever had in ski slopestyle,” said Christiansen, who added that Sildaru is an inspiration.
“I have been watching her since she was even younger than this,” said Christiansen, who stomped a switch 1080 on the final hit. “She just makesme a better skier, and I want to push myself even harder when I see her ski.”
Snowboarding phenom Chloe Kim was 13 years, 9 months old when she won halfpipe silver at the 2014 Winter X Games to become youngest medalist.
But at 13 years and 11 months, Sildaru ranks as the youngest Winter X gold medalist — beating Kim, who won gold last year at age 14.