Fin Melville Ives wins X-Games ski superpipe gold in Aspen

New Zealand bagged another gold in the men’s ski superpipe at the X-Games in Aspen yesterday, with Fin Melville Ives delivering at his best across three jaw-dropping runs to dominate the competition.

His performance brought the total haul by the New Zealand athletes to two gold and four silver.

Once again, Aspen threw up challenging conditions with fresh snow and winds impacting the competition.

Melville Ives led from the start, scoring 89.33, then improving in his second run to score 93.33, then laying down a fearless run to score a 95.00. No one could touch the Wānaka-based athlete who impressed the judges in showcasing both amplitude and difficulty, his last run giving 6m of air in his first trick, a switch right 9. A rookie in 2025, he narrowly missed podium with a fourth-place finish.

Melville Ives won silver at the 2024 Youth Winter Olympics and in March last year, was crowned the 2025 FIS Freeski Halfpipe World Champion at his debut World Champs. This year, he has scored two World Cup podiums, coming first in Freeski Halfpipe at Buttermilk and second in Calgary.

Melville Ives said conditions were tricky, but the crowd vibe was electric.

“It’s been super surreal. I’m just so grateful to have put down these runs in front of all the fans.”

The 19-year-old said he was most stoked to land the switch 14 which he’d never done before in competition.

Snow Sports NZ head coach high performance Park & Pipe Tom Willmott said it was a big night to wrap up New Zealand’s most successful X-Games.

“A blizzard rolled in during warm-ups for the freeski superpipe finals making preparation challenging and gusty wind lingered into the first runs.

“Luke Harrold put down a first run as a rangefinder and then looked to step things up in run two but lost a ski with a flat landing. In run three, it was time to go for it, and Luke launched his signature switch left allyoop double 1260. A few execution bobbles and he had to settle for sixth place.

“Fin placed fourth at last year’s X-Games and was keen to get on the box this time around. Fin did not have the luxury of a victory lap with the new format which moves the current leader to second to last in the final run. Fin dropped in super-fast and executed a massive switch right 9 landing at the top of the wall into a switch left double 14 into back-to-back 16s and finishing with an allyoop double 9. It was the first time he had landed this combination, and the judges rewarded him with a score of 95.00 and X-Games gold.”

Also competing yesterday were Sunday’s silver medallist Rocco Jamieson (19), who narrowly missed the podium in the men’s Knuckle Huck, finishing in fourth. Dane Menzies (20), an X-Games rookie, came 11th in snowboard slopestyle.