| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | April 12, 1996 Englewood, Colorado, United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10.5 in (179 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 172 lb (78 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Freestyle skiing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Halfpipe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Ski and Snowboard Club Vail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Aaron Blunck (born April 12, 1996) is an American freestyle skier from Crested Butte, Colorado.
Blunck competed in the men's halfpipe event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. [1] He qualified for the final, where he placed seventh out of 12 competitors.
Blunck won the gold medal at the 2017 Winter X Games in Aspen in the men's superpipe. [2]
During the summer, Blunck can be found at Mt. Hood, Oregon, where he hosts a Takeover Session at Windells Camp. [3]
According to the South China Morning Post , Blunck alleged that he was suspended by Twitter after he praised the 2022 Beijing Olympics. He reposted a fan's comment that read: "Aaron Blunck [is] out here telling the truth and getting punished by his own government." He later also shared a commentator's tweet accusing the US government of causing his account to be shut down: "Twitter has executed the order of the Western ruling cabals... Punishment comes pretty fast." In his Instagram post, he tagged Twitter and asked: "What'd I do?" [4]
Prior to his allegation, he had criticized Western media's negative coverage of the event, saying, "I didn't really know what to expect, being stateside you've kind of heard some pretty bad media, and that is completely false – it's actually been phenomenal", adding that "Everybody – from staff to Covid testers, to accommodation – it's probably, honestly, one of the better Olympics that we've been to". [4]
However, it was revealed that the account had been suspended in September of the previous year, over five months prior to the games. Twitter responded to the allegations saying that the account had been suspended in error and had since been recovered. [4]
Sarah Jean Burke was a Canadian freestyle skier who was a pioneer of the superpipe event. She was a five-time Winter X Games gold medallist, and won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005. She successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to have the event added to the Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was considered a medal favourite in the event. Burke died following a training accident in Utah in 2012.
Winter X Games XIV were held from January 28 to January 31, 2010, in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 9th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen. The events were broadcast on ESPN.
Kévin Rolland is a French freestyle skier. He won the gold medal at the 2009 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships in the halfpipe. He lost his title in 2011 to the Canadian Mike Riddle but still finished on the podium at the second place.
Torin Yater-Wallace is a freestyle skier from the United States. He won a silver medal at Winter X Games XV in the superpipe, making him the youngest medalist in Winter X-Games history. Torin is one of the best free skiers in the world.
Rosalind Groenewoud is a Canadian freeskier. She is the 2011 FIS World Champion in halfpipe, Groenewoud is also a 2012 Winter X Games champion x 2 and has 3 silver and two bronze medals from X Games competitions in halfpipe. She won the AFP Overall Championship in 2009 & 2010 and AFP Halfpipe Overall Ranking in 2012. She is the first woman to design her own pro-model freestyle ski with the female owned ski company Coalition Snow.
Nicholas Charles Goepper is an American Olympic freestyle skier. Representing the United States of America, Goepper won a bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and won a silver medal at both the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. He has also won four gold medals and two silver medals at the Winter X Games. His sponsors include PowerBar, Red Bull, Kulkea, and Völkl.
Devin Marie Logan is an American freeskier from West Dover, Vermont. She won silver in women's slopestyle event at the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi.
Maddison Michelle "Maddie" Bowman is an American former freestyle skier. She won a silver medal in the superpipe at Winter X Games XVI in 2012.
Noah Bowman is a Canadian freestyle skier. He won a silver medal in the superpipe at Winter X Games XVI.
Half-pipe skiing is the sport of riding snow skis on a half-pipe. Competitors perform a series of tricks while going down the pipe. The current world record for highest jump in a half-pipe is held by Joffrey Pollet-Villard, with 26 feet 3 inches. The sport is considered to be dangerous compared to other sports, and helmets are required to be worn during competitions. Half-pipe skiing has been part of the Winter X Games since 2002, and made its Olympic debut at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. David Wise of the United States of America became the first Olympic champion in this discipline with a total of 92.00 points.
Dara Howell is a Canadian freestyle skier. She was the first freestyle skier to win a gold medal in ski slopestyle at the inaugural event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Howell has also won a bronze medal in women's slopestyle at the Winter X Games XVII in Aspen, Colorado, behind Tiril Sjåstad Christiansen and Kaya Turski.
Ayumu Hirano is a Japanese Olympic champion and three-time Olympic medalist snowboarder and Olympic skateboarder. He won the silver medal in the superpipe in 2013 Winter X Games XVII at the age of 14, becoming the youngest medalist in X Games history, and won silver medals in the half-pipe at both the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He also competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as a skateboarder, becoming one of the two athletes, the other being Jaqueline Mourão, who participated in all of the three consecutive Olympic Games in East Asia between 2018 and 2022.
Maggie Voisin is an American freeskier. She was selected for the U.S. Olympic team to compete in the women's slopestyle event at the 2014 Winter Olympics, but she fractured her right fibula above her ankle and was unable to compete. During the 2013–14 FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup season, Voisin finished in fourth in events in both Cardona, New Zealand and Copper Mountain in Colorado. At the 2014 Winter X Games, Voisin won the slopestyle silver medal, becoming the youngest skier to medal in X Games history.
Augustus Richard Kenworthy is a British-American former freestyle skier, actor, and YouTuber. He has competed in slopestyle, halfpipe, and big air. Kenworthy won the silver medal in men's slopestyle at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. As of 2019 Kenworthy represents Great Britain. He was cast as Chet Clancy in the ninth season of the horror anthology series American Horror Story: 1984.
Simon d'Artois is a Canadian freestyle skier. Born and raised in Whistler, BC. He is a member of the Canadian National Halfpipe team. d'Artois competed at the Winter X Games XIX, obtaining the first Canadian gold in the Men's SuperPipe. He has also competed at the U.S. Grand Prix, where in 2013 he fell and hit his head and shoulders near the end of his Superpipe jump.
Cassie Sharpe is a Canadian freestyle skier. Sharpe became the Olympic champion in women's halfpipe after winning gold in Pyeongchang, South Korea at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She won a silver medal at the 2015 World Championships in halfpipe in Kreischberg and won gold and bronze in superpipe at the Winter X Games in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
Winter X Games XXI were held from January 26 to January 29, 2017, in Aspen, Colorado. Thomas Wilson won his 16th consecutive Winter X Games held in Aspen. The events were broadcast on ESPN.
McRae Williams is an American freestyle skier who competes internationally. He competed for the United States at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2017 in Sierra Nevada, Spain, where he won a gold medal in Slopestyle. McRae represented the United States in slopestyle at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, where he finished 15th.
Nico Porteous is a New Zealand freestyle skier and an Olympic champion. He is New Zealand's youngest Olympic Games medallist, having won a bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics at the age of 16. He became New Zealand's second Winter Olympic gold medallist, and first male, with his win in men's halfpipe at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Eileen Feng Gu, also known by her Chinese name Gu Ailing, is a freestyle skier. Born in the United States, she has competed for China in halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air events since 2019.
