At the ripe age of 27, Kelly Clark is having the season of her life. She has won every major pipe competition she's won so far, save one. She's on track to win the Burton Global Open series, the TTR World Tour and the Dew Cup, and tonight the 2002 Winter Olympic gold medalist not only took home her first Winter X SuperPipe gold medal since 2006, she became the first woman to land a 1080 in competition.
Defending and four-time gold medalist Gretchen Bleiler fell hard in her first run and couldn't seem to shake it off for the rest of the evening, while two-time gold medalist and reigning Olympic champ Torah Bright was absent from the comp, choosing instead to focus on Sunday's Slopestyle event.
Clark landed the 1080 in practice on Thursday, leaving many to wonder if she'd try to pull it again tonight. After a first-run score of 92.33 secured the win, she used her third and final run as a victory lap, threw the 1080 and rode away clean.
"It's been an incredible night. To have a victory lap like that and set it down at the X Games is amazing," Clark said. "I've been working on that for a long time and I couldn't think of a better place for it to come together."
Idaho's Kaitlyn Farrington, winner of last year's inaugural Winter X Games Europe, and the only woman to beat Clark this season, came in second place with a stylish backside 900. California's Elena Hight rounded out the podium. "It's inspirational for sure," said Farrington about Clark's 10. "It means we all have to learn 10s now if we ever want to beat her."