Aspen, CO (Monday, January 31, 2005) - Back to back 1080’s aren’t enough to win the X Games anymore. The progression of snowboarding is happening at such a furious pace that if you close your eyes you might miss a sea change. Danny Kass (Mammoth Lakes, CA) stomped back to back 10’s and scored the bottom spot on the podium.

Sunday night’s top qualifier Andy Finch (Fresno, CA) ran last and was able grab second place, bump Kass to third and knock Shaun White (Carlsbad, CA) off the podium entirely with his explosive run. Finland’s Antti Autti, the current FIS World Champion, rounded out the podium in first place with a spectacular display of huge airs, inverted spins and technical combinations. U.S. Snowboarding’s Luke Wynen and Tommy Czeschin made Mammoth Lakes proud with fifth and sixth respectively.

“Wynen pulling the back to back nines was rad. It was amazing, the level…there has never been a contest like that," said U.S. Snowboarding Head Coach Peter Foley. "What did Autti do? Three tens? It’s crazy. It’s good to have Autti win. It opens the American’s eyes about what it’s going to take if we want to win in Torino. It’s not easy; there are people out there charging. It raises the level of the sport.”

The 2005 Winter X Games have been a surprise from the qualifiers to the last run of the finals, with huge names like Steve Fisher (St. Louis Park, MN) and Terje Haakonsen of Norway out in the first round and podium given, Shaun White, knocked out of the top three in the last minute. Conventional wisdom has held that a stomped White run is unbeatable. That did not hold true at Monday evening’s event.

White changed the game of snowboarding forever at January 2005 Vail Session SuperSlopestyle event when he landed the feared “bag of nines” in one run. The elusive “bag of nines” had previously been a season-long quest for top riders to capture on film. White reduced the best riders season’s to a 45 second run. So he shouldn’t feel too bad about X and there is always the Olympics.

WINTER X GAMES NINE
Aspen, Colo. – Jan 31, 2005
Halfpipe Finals
Men
1. Antti Autti, Finland, 93.00
2. Andy Finch, Fresno, Calif., 92.00
3. Danny Kass, Mammoth Lakes, Calif., 90.33
4. Shaun White, Carlsbad, Calif., 90.00
5. Luke Wynen, Mammoth Lakes, Calif., 87.66
6. Tommy Czeschin, Mammoth Lakes, Calif., 85.33
7. Mason Aguirre, Duluth, Minn., 79.33
8. Mike Goldschmidt, Stratton, Vt., 75.00
9. J.J. Thomas, Golden, Colo., 74.00
10. Travis Rice, Jackson, Wyo., 70.33