First list of athletes invited for Winter X Games 16 revealed
ESPN recently announced the schedule for the latest edition of the biggest annual winter sports event, Winter X Games 16. Invitations have already been sent to a long list of exciting athletes for the competition that will be held for the 11th
consecutive time at Aspen/Snowmass in Colorado, America, from January 26-29, 2012.
The list of invited athletes has been revealed and includes names of heavy-weights from freeskiing, snowboarding and snowmobile freestyle contests. While some of the athletes have already confirmed that they will be visiting Aspen to participate in the
battle for the gold medals, others are taking their time before sending a reply to the organisers of the multi-sport event.
The list of athletes receiving an invitation for the upcoming Winter X Games includes the likes of America’s Shaun White, France’s Kevin Rolland and Canada’s Sebastien Toutant among many others.
White has earned himself quite a repute over the years and is known to be one of the most exciting athlete in the Winter X Games line-up. The previous edition of Winter X Games saw him collect his fourth Snowboard SuperPipe gold medallist and only can only
expect a remarkable fight from him to retain his throne this year as well.
Rolland will be returning to Aspen to defend his Skiing SuperPipe gold medal and is expected to bring along a huge arsenal of spectacular tricks to complete the deed successfully. After making history in 2011 with his three doubles in a single run, one can
only imagine what the Frenchman will offer at the beginning of next year.
Toutant made his debut at the Winter X Games at the beginning of this year and walked away with not one, but two medals after proving his mettle in Snowboard Slopestyle for a gold medal and Big Air contest to earn silver.
America’s Kelly Clark and Canada’s Sarah Burke are expected to show up at Aspen to defend their throne and assert their dominance in Snowboard SuperPipe and Skiing SuperPipe respectively. The event site may be the same, but the level of competition and intensity
is bound to differ. Therefore, it would be interesting to see how the two women go about their business and whether they are able to add another gold medal to collection or not.
Sweden’s Daniel Bodin stole the show in Winter X Games Snowmobile Freestyle at the beginning of the year, clinching gold medal in both Best Trick and Freestyle disciplines. With the invitation already sent to him for the latest edition of the mega-event,
Bodin is likely to return to the battlefield and continue his journey towards a legendary status in the sport.
A huge field of exciting athlete will be receiving invitations to compete at the biggest and most-hyped stage of action sports. The wait is a long one, but it would definitely be worth it.
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