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Maddie Bowman caps unrivaled year with X Games three-peat

Maddie Bowman

ASPEN, CO. - JANUARY 21: Maddie Bowman takes first place in the Ski Superpipe Women’s Finals on Buttermilk Mountain, Wednesday January 21, Aspen X Games 2015. This is her third win in the event, the only other woman to do so is Sarah Burke who won the event four times, Burke died in a training event in 2012. (Photo By Mahala Gaylord/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Denver Post via Getty Images

No other U.S. Sochi Olympian can say they’ve performed better than Maddie Bowman in their four biggest competitions over the last 365 days.

Bowman, 20, capped an impressive year stretch by winning her third straight Winter X Games ski halfpipe title amid falling snow in Aspen, Colo., on Wednesday night.

Her victory brought memories of Sarah Burke, who won gold in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 and died after a training crash in January 2012.

“Damn, I didn’t even realize,” Bowman said on ESPN when told she matched Burke’s three-peat. “It’s pretty crazy. I feel really honored. Every time we go out skiing, we just try to make her proud. I hope we made her proud tonight.”

Here’s Bowman’s last year:

1/24/14 -- Wins X Games
2/20/14 -- Wins Sochi Olympics
12/12/14 -- Wins Dew Tour Mountain Championships
1/21/15 -- Wins X Games

Two of Bowman’s three runs on Wednesday were good enough for gold -- an 85 in her first (with two 900s) and an 85.66 in her third. Japan’s Ayana Onozuka took silver with 83.33, followed by U.S. Olympian Brita Sigourney getting bronze with 78.66. (full results here)

Onozuka won bronze in Sochi behind Bowman. The Sochi silver medalist, France’s Marie Martinod, was seventh on Wednesday. Sigourney was sixth in Sochi.

Bowman’s sustained success is more remarkable given she came back from May knee surgery.

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