Iceland's First Gold

Helgason Wins His and Iceland's First Winter X Games Gold

Aspen, Colo. - Iceland's Halldor Helgason's two perfect scores in Snowboard Big Air sealed his and his home countries first Winter X Games gold.

"I am pretty stoked," Helgason said following the competition.  "I was really feeling it today and I had no idea that I would get one perfect score much less two."

Those two perfect scores came on a double cork 1080 on his first run and a backside double cork 1260 on his third run giving him a score of 100. The top two runs are combined for the competitors score. 

Not bad for a 19-year old, who was competing in his first Winter X Games in front of a one-day record crowd of 34,500 people.  A crowd that nearly doubled the population of his hometown of Akureyri, which had a population of 17,304 according to a recent Census report.

Two Norweigan's, Torstein Horgmo and Mikkel Bang rounded out the medalists, with Horgmo's score of 94 winning the silver and Bang's 83 winning the bronze.

"The new big air format is amazing," Horgmo, whose two switch backside 1260 sealed his medal, said.  "Riding with my friends pushes me harder and makes me try new tricks.  It is an amazing feeling."

The Snowboard Big Air competition features 10 top snowboarders jumping off of a single feature - the 85-foot, step-up gap in jam session format.

For Winter X Games media information, including press releases, logos and additional images from past events, log on to www.espneventmedia.com. To view medalist runs, visit the Winter X Games You Tube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/xgames and follow the X Games on Twitter at Twitter.com/espnxgames

WINTER X GAMES 14

The 14th annual winter action sports competition will feature more than 250 men and women from across the globe competing for medals and prize money in the following sports: Skiing, Snowboard and Snowmobile. The event includes day and evening competitions and is free to the public. This will be the ninth consecutive Winter X Games that Buttermilk Mountain at Aspen/Snowmass has hosted.

ESPN and ESPN2 will televise 24 ½ hours of LIVE high-definition programming Jan. 28-Jan 31. ESPN2 will present daily late-night highlight programs in HD from Jan. 28-Jan. 31, resulting in eight additional hours of HD programming for Winter X Games 14. Additionally, the Winter X Games will also be televised on ESPN's International networks to 172 countries and territories in Latin America, the Pacific Rim, Middle East, Africa, Israel and Canada.

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