Salomon’s ski history is deeply rooted in freeski. In the early 2000s, pioneers like Mike Douglas and JP Auclair re-invented the sport skiing on the first twin tip skis from Salomon, the iconic 1080s. In the following years, the Salomon team saw a number of athletes climb the ranks, including Simon Dumont, Bobby Brown, Sammy Carlson, and several other athletes who would end up winning X Games and Olympic medals. Today, a new generation has arrived to the Salomon team, and they put their talents on display in the halfpipe and on the kickers of the 2021 Aspen X Games this past weekend.
The X Games looked quite different this year without the hyped crowd cheering loudly while trying to make sense of all the rotations and grabs showcased by athletes. Even without the throngs of people cheering below, Salomon’s athletes brought their A games.
DOUBLE TRIPLE TROUBLE
Antoine Adelisse won the Silver medal on the Big Air, landing a Triple Cork 1620 Triple Grab, "the cleanest I've ever done" according to Antoine. This 2nd place finish comes just a year after Antoine won the Gold medal in Big Air at the Oslo X Games 2020. Antoine first joined the Salomon freeski team back in 2011 after participating in and winning that year’s Salomon JIB Academy. This allowed him to step up his game and improve year after year. He’s now showing that he can shine at the highest level. Next step: the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in 2022.
MASTRO & MATSUMATO ON THE PODIUM
On the snowboard side, Salomon’s female athletes shone during the SuperPipe event. Maddie Mastro, who has been riding with Salomon for five years, grabbed the Silver medal. Since 2017, she has been steadily climbing her way up the women’s halfpipe ranks. In 2019, she made waves by becoming the first female to land a double-crippler in competition. She also has her sights set on the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, and we can’t wait to see what she will do there.
Haruna Matsumato, who grabbed the Bronze medal in the SuperPipe comp, has been riding with Salomon for 17 years, since she was 10 years-old! In the recent years, she has secured Bronze and Silver medals at the Burton US Open in 2018 and 2020, and another Bronze medal during last year’s X Games.
