January 30, 2011

 

A Photo Finish

Teller Claims Victory in Men’s Skier X

Half of a ski.  That is all that separated first and second in the Men’s Skier X final. That half-of-ski belonged to California’s John Teller, who knocked off defending champion Chris Del Bosco to capture the gold.

Del Bosco took the lead early, but as the competitors neared the butter box portion of the course, Teller used a slingshot technique to pass Del Bosco and take a lead he would never surrender.

“In semi finals I was behind Del Bosco and I planned spaces where I could pass,” said Teller. “So in the finals I did exactly that. I was on autopilot. This all goes to show hard work pays off. But pinch me because I still think I’m dreaming.”

Del Bosco, who had the fastest qualifying time by two seconds, said he just ran out of room.

“I tried to stay as tight as I could getting into the finish jump and I kind of skipped off the top a little bit,” explained Del Bosco. “I gained a little bit but there’s just no room after the finish jump once you hit the jump and basically landing to cross the finish line, so I just kind of ran out of room.”

Bronze medal winner and Aspen native, Casey Puckett, said that with Teller and Del Bosco riding so well, he was just hoping one of them would make a mistake.

“I had the best seat in the house,” said the 38-year old Puckett.  “I was watching Teller and Del Bosco go at it and really I was waiting to see if they made a mistake so that I could capitalize on it.  But they had a good race.”

A fusion of motocross and downhill racing, Skier X represents one of the most demanding competitions in ski racing today with skiers racing over tabletop jumps, banked turns, rollers and gaps.

For Winter X Games media information, including press releases, logos and additional images from past events, log on to www.espneventmedia.com. To view medalist runs, visit the Winter X Games You Tube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/xgames and follow the X Games on Twitter at Twitter.com/xgames

WINTER X GAMES 15

Winter X Games will celebrate its 15^th anniversary in Aspen/Snowmass, Colo. January 27-30, 2011, with live coverage on ESPN and ESPN2. This will mark the 10^th consecutive year Winter X Games will be held in Aspen and will feature new events, more than 200 athletes and primetime coverage on ESPN on Sun., Jan.30. In addition to 24 hours of live programming on ESPN, Winter X Games 15 will be offered for the first time on ESPN 3D, as well as on ESPN International, XGames.com, ESPN360.com, SportsCenter and ESPN2’s X Center.

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Contacts:          Alex Rozis (Broadcast media), 415-609-0749, [email protected]

Danny Chi, (Print Media), 310-491-6131, [email protected]

Crystal Yang (Radio Media), 310-491-6735, [email protected]

Grace Coryell, 310-956-5098, [email protected]