So I’m pretty sure you guys all know about the X-games. It is a thing you can go watch in the winter/summer and watch them do tricks and stunts in the air and more. What I will be talking about though is the winter X-games. In the winter they use Snowmobiles / snowboards / and skis. We will be talking about the history of snowboarding / snowmobiles/ and skiing.
In 1997, the X Games expanded to include winter sports such as snowboarding, free skiing, snowmobiling, and for a time, freestyle motocross, forging new paths for young athletes such as Shaun White, Kaya Turski and many more. The first X Games were in Rhode Island in 1995 with the summer extreme sports competing for medals and prize money. Two years later the first winter X Games were held at Big Bear Lake in California. According to an article from National Geographic, the games get their name from several influences. Snowboarding was a big thing to the X-games considering it was a 439% increase of people.
Now for skiing, it is way different than snowboarding. The first Winter X Games took place at Snow Summit ski resort in Big Bear Lake, California, in 1997. The following two years, the Games were held at Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado. The two years following that, the Games were held in Mount Snow, Vermont. From June 24 through July 1, the Extreme Games are held in Newport, Providence and Middletown, R.I., and Mount Snow, Vt. Athletes compete in 27 events in nine sport categories: Bungy Jumping, Eco-Challenge, In-line Skating, Skateboarding, Skysurfing, Sport Climbing, Street Luge, Biking and Water Sports.
One of the longest-running Winter X Games events — Snowmobile SnoCross racing — will no longer be a part of the Winter X program, as of this coming January’s event in Aspen, Colo., X Games officials announced Thursday. SnoCross debuted in 1998 as the first motorized sport in X Games history, and had been contested every year since then. Speed & Style, which combines snowmobiling’s freestyle and racing disciplines, and adaptive SnoCross, are also being eliminated.
X Games Senior Director of Content Strategy Tim Reed said the decision to cut the events was complex and not tied strictly to budgets. “Ultimately, we’re trying to create and build the best event we can,” Reed said. “It’s never easy. We know there’s a lot going on in the industry and a lot of it is tied to the X Games. A lot goes into these decisions.”
In conclusion the X-games has had a long history and a lot of events. I think it’s really cool that they are still going with that stuff and just haven’t given up, but I mean it is a big event. The reason why I picked this topic is because I just went and saw the X-games just recently and it gave me a good idea to do this topic.
Citations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Games
https://snowboardmag.com/stories/history-winter-x-games-part-1
https://extremesportsx.com/2019/11/28/a-detailed-history-of-the-winter-x-games/