Tess Ledeux Changed The Game For Female Freestyle Skiers Right Before The Olympics

It was a weekend of firsts for female freestyle skier Tess Ledeux at X Games. And by the time she was through, she’d established multiple new high-water marks in the sport.

In the X Games women’s ski big air competition on Friday, sitting in fourth place, Ledeux successfully completed a double cork 1620 for the first time in women’s competition, earning a score of 49 out of 50 and securing the gold medal.

After making history, a breathless Ledeux could barely contain her elation. “I’m so so happy; it’s incredible,” she said.

The trick, which Ledeux said she learned for the first time in September, involves four and a half full rotations and two off-axis flips, and requires an incredible amount of speed and precision. (When she dropped her poles in the women’s ski slopestyle event the following morning, spectators knew she was planning to attempt the double 1620 again; she didn’t land it, but the bar has been set for the Beijing Olympics.)

During big air training on a snowy, flat-light day, Ledeux said she didn’t have enough speed on the course to attempt the double 1620, but by the final, she had adapted. She had landed the trick only four times before landing it at X Games.

Less than 22 hours later, Ledeux was back on the course for the women’s ski slopestyle final, which she won with her technical and progressive third run that included a switch pretzel 270, switch rightside 270 continuing 270 and a blind 450 safety on the rails, followed by a switch leftside 1080 Japan, switch rightside bio 900 safety and a left double 1260 Weddle grab on the jumps.

With her second gold, Ledeux became the first woman to win ski big air and ski slopestyle at the same X Games.

In both events, Ledeux, who will compete for France in the upcoming Olympics, shared the podium with ROXY teammate Megan Oldham, of Team Canada.

Ledeux claiming the double 1620 has upped the ante for the Olympics, which kick off with the opening ceremony in just 10 days. It will push gold-medal favorite Eileen Gu of Team China to attempt the trick in big air (and potentially in slopestyle, if Ledeux throws down the gauntlet).

At only 20 years old, Ledeux is two-time world champion (slopestyle in 2017 and Big Air in 2019) and has won eight world cups and three X Games gold medals. She finished 15th in slopestyle at the Pyeongchang Games, however, and that disappointment has driven her recent progression in the lead-up to Beijing.

Gu, who will compete in all three freeski events in Beijing (slopestyle, big air and halfpipe), has won her last four halfpipe events but took second at the U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain earlier this month and at Dew Tour at Copper Mountain in December.

Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru, another podium favorite in women’s ski slopestyle at the Olympics, pulled out of the event at X Games after a fall on the rails course. She, Gu and Ledeux are the skiers to watch in the women’s slopestyle final on February 14.

“The level is just incredible this year, with the Olympics and just the progression,” Ledeux told me after her big air win. “I’m so proud to be part of this movement.”