Zoe Atkin shines yet again in Women’s SuperPipe. Credit: SnowBrains

Every year, in late January in Aspen, Colorado, there is a certain electricity in the air. There is that feeling you get that something bigger is going on. Something far larger than the mountains that surround the town. X-Games. Reporting to you live from Buttermilk Mountain for the 2026 X-Games, SnowBrains is here to keep you in the loop.

High energy x games — X-Games is electric. *Credit: SnowBrains.*

To start, the first event of day one was the Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle final. As a reminder, slopestyle events feature a rail section at the top that connects directly to a series of transitions and massive jumps below. The idea is that the rider who puts together the most complete, clean run from top to bottom wins the competition. Over the past few years, this has been one of my favorite events to watch, especially in person. This field is filled with so much talent, growing year over year. The podium ended up having Mia Brookes as the gold medalist, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott as the second-place silver medalist, and Cocomo Murase taking bronze. I also enjoyed watching Jamie Anderson, who is one of the snowboard greats with 21 total X-Games medals, as well as Anna Gasser, who continues to push the envelope.

Following the event, I got to interview two-time slopestyle X-Games gold medalist Mia Brookes. Mia is one of the most exciting athletes in any sport to watch; her riding is so smooth, her style is unbelievable, and she makes difficult tricks look sleepy. If you are unfamiliar, check out her Instagram or tune in to Big Air or Knuckle Huck competitions this weekend to watch her compete live. When I asked Mia about her thoughts on the course and how she prepares to drop in, she responded:

“This course really brought all of the fun out for me. I really enjoyed the course and got my flow back. I was just loving it…I feel like I just almost stop thinking, which sounds kinda crazy, I just get into the zone, and if I can do that, I’m sweet”.

Another event that I want to highlight is the Women’s Ski SuperPipe final. With Eileen Gu missing the competition, the field for this event was set to be competitive from start to finish, although Zoe Atkin, who has been quietly walking away with women’s pipe competition podiums, had other plans. A cool story coming out of the superpipe finals was that 15-year-old Indra Brown, out of Australia, took silver. It was her first-ever X-Games, and she left with a medal. Undoubtedly, there is a bright future ahead for the young skier. I caught up with her after the event and asked her about the competition:

“I just hopefully will keep having fun skiing and keep progressing. Everyone is so supportive, it is like a small community of us up there, about to drop in. We just enjoy pushing each other and skiing together. No matter where everyone falls on the leaderboard, everyone is so proud of each other. When the snow started falling, it definitely made the speed difficult for landing my tricks, but I came here with the goal to land this run, and I am super happy I was able to in these conditions”.

On the front of a gold medal victory, Zoe Atkin truly stole the show in this event. On the first hit of each of her runs, she went progressively bigger in absolutely boosting out of the halfpipe. It was incredible to watch. Someone flying 16 feet over your head never ceases to amaze me. I have enjoyed watching her compete for some time now, and it is satisfying to watch an athlete emerge into a new phase of control and dominance. After the big win, Zoe told SnowBrains:

“Sometimes I get nervous watching the other girls throw down. But today, with the changed format that eliminated victory laps, it gave me the opportunity to step it up on each run and kept me excited throughout the competition. We are all super competitive, and we all want to win up there, but at the end of the day, there are so few women in this discipline in this sport, so you never want to win because someone else falls; you want everyone to land their runs and make a good representation of the sport. We all support eachother and want everyone to land their runs”.

As mentioned, the updated format was a solid addition for the event. When entering the final heat, the second-place and first-place spots are moved to the last two runs of the heat to prevent them from taking “victory lap” runs where their medals are essentially secured. The format gives all competitors a third run to validate their final positions and keeps things hot until the end.

Zoe Atkin gold — Zoe Atkin, after being crowned the 2026 Women’s Ski Superpipe gold medalist. *Credit: SnowBrains.*

Day one of the X-Games was an amazing introduction to the weekend. There were too many events to highlight in one article, but the competitions I mentioned were the ones I found myself expressly engaged in. All of the athletes today went crazy, and it is unimaginable how many hours, and blood, sweat, and tears go into the making of the final runs they put down. Every one of them is in world-class condition and performs mind-bending maneuvers that the typical spectator doesn’t even know the name of. Covering X-Games never lets down, and I am thrilled to be back in the presence of greatness. Looking forward to day two.