Ski knuckles bring risk, rewards; Sweden’s Jesper Tjader wins X Games gold
A new X Games winner was crowned Friday night in ski knuckle huck, as 28-year-old Jesper Tjader of Sweden won the event since its debut in 2020.
Under the light and in a blizzard, he took gold after creating the best overall impression of the eight riders in the 20-minute jam format.
In doing so, he held off two former champions and an 18-year-old from Austria.
He said it was consistency that led to the gold medal.
“I landed all my tricks,” Tjader said.
But it was his maneuver in the third round when he pushed the limits of what can be performed from the “knuckle” of the big air jump. Landing a double front flip with a 180 switch “was my highlight,” he said. “That was my scariest.”
The judges’ criteria are based on originality, creativity and style, as well as difficulty and course during the session.
Austrian Matej Svancer, 18, and the youngest in the field, took silver. Colby Stevenson of Park City was the top American, finishing with the bronze medal. He won the first ski knuckle in 2020.
“I feel like I rode my absolute best in the knuckle huck,” he said. “I had a great time with all the homies and got to watch some crazy skiing.”
His own highlight was his nose butter dub 12.
“I was scared to do it. I absolutely went to the bottom” of the hill to land it,” Stevenson said, adding, “To get enough air time, you had to go to the bottom. It was pretty high risk.”
Friday’s field also included 2021 winner Henrik Harlaut and last year’s gold medalist, Quinn Wolferman.
According to Aspen native Torin Yater-Wallace, the knuckle hook is all about what you throw in the moment and how unique your trick can be. He has eight X Games medals himself but did not compete in this event.
He is best known as a halfpipe athlete, having competed in the knuckle huck in 2020. His participation in that competition was amazing, as he had broken both heels in a serious crash a year earlier that required him to learn to walk again.
Yater-Wallace, who is currently in Minnesota working on a street skiing segment for her fourth Deviate Films project, spoke Thursday about what it’s like to compete in the knuckle huck.
“You talk about a blank canvas, and you paint it as you see it,” he said, “which has been said a million times, but there’s no way it’s truer than knuckle huck because it’s literally just a roll of snow.
“It’s kind of subjective what wins. It could be a nose butter, double flip and could be some kind of big spin. It could be some kind of unique hand move. I think that’s why it’s a super cool event to watch.”
X Games snowboard athletes are scheduled to take their turn at the knuckle huck on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. Snowboard knuckle huck debuted in 2019, a year before the ski version of the event became a regular X Games.