OSLO — Canada's Cassie Sharpe collected her first X Games gold medal Sunday, skiing to victory in the women's superpipe.
The 23-year-old from Comox, B.C., scored 88.33 points to hold off Olympic champion and four-time X Games gold medallist Maddie Bowman of the U.S.
"I'm on Cloud 9 right now," Sharpe said. "I came here knowing that I had a chance to medal, but I never thought I could end up on top with the likes of Maddie Bowman.
"I'm so overjoyed and happy. It's a really crazy moment. When I was growing up, the X Games was the dream and the biggest event you could go to before the Olympic Games added our sport. I'm just so happy to be here and to be able to perform in front of such a huge crowd."
Bowman scored 85.33 for silver, while Japan's Ayana Onozuka won bronze (83.66).
Sharpe dominated the field with three clean runs that earned her the competition's highest scores. Her lowest score of 86.00 — on her first run — would have been enough for gold.
Coach Trennon Paynter had worked on a gameplan with Sharpe to produce big scores with each run. At the X Games in Aspen earlier this year, Sharpe didn't go as big on her first run and it proved costly — a fourth-place finish.
"I took Trennon's advice to go for it on all three runs and it really paid off," said Sharpe. "He told me I could have made the podium in Aspen if I had done that, so I listened to my coach. My first run went so well and was really clean. It took some pressure off. After that I was revved up and ready for more.
"For my second run I just went even bigger and even cleaner… I'm just over the moon with how it all went."
Sharpe is the first Canadian woman to win X Games superpipe gold since Roz Groenewoud, who won double gold in 2012. She joins a short, but impressive list of Canadian women who have won superpipe gold at the X Games, including the late Sarah Burke who won five titles.
"I grew up watching the X Games as a kid and seeing Sarah dominate the pipe. To come here and do the same thing is surreal," said Sharpe. "Those girls are definitely pioneers for my sport and what I do. I couldn't be happier to represent Canada the way that they did. I couldn't be happier to follow in their footsteps."
Sharpe and her halfpipe teammates will next compete in a FIS World Cup in France, March 9-10.
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