Gus Kenworthy had the best ski halfpipe run of his life Thursday, but it wasn’t enough for his first X Games title.
Kenworthy, the Olympic ski slopestyle silver medalist who came out in October, had the second- and third-best scores of the night on the first two of his three runs at X Games in Aspen, Colo.
But the final skier, France’s Kevin Rolland, overtook Kenworthy with a 93.33-point third run (video). Full results are here.
“So much pressure, but I think I’m used to it,” Rolland, the Olympic bronze medalist and 2010 and 2011 X Games champion, said on ESPN. “I’m just shocked right now.”
Earlier, Kenworthy scored 91.33 points in the first of three runs and 92.33 in his second (video).
“Got a big weight off my shoulders, and oh my god I’m emotional,” Kenworthy said on ESPN after his second run. “That was honestly the best run I’ve ever done.”
It nearly held up against a field that included Olympic champion and three-time X Games champion David Wise, who was competing after separating his collarbone in a crash last week. Wise placed eighth, the worst X Games finish of his career.
Kenworthy, 24, came into Aspen with one previous X Games medal, a ski slopestyle bronze at Winter X Games Europe in Tignes, France in 2013.
His best previous X Games halfpipe finish was fifth in 2015. He missed making the Sochi Olympic team in ski halfpipe, after he had already clinched a ski slopestyle spot.
Kenworthy is also slated for the ski slopestyle event in Aspen on Sunday. He is the two-time reigning Dew Tour Mountain Championships ski slopestyle champion.
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