By Peter Mertz

ASPEN, U.S., Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Tony and Jos Richardson travelled more than 14,000 kilometers from Jindabyne, Australia to this isolated town in the middle of Colorado's Rocky Mountains for one reason - to see Scotty James.

And their hometown boy delivered on Sunday night, seizing a coveted gold medal in the men's superpipe competition - the premiere event of the annual X Games.

The 24-year-old Australian grabbed the gold medal from the hands of Japan's Yuto Totsuka with a stellar second run that gave him the victory. American Danny Davis took bronze.

All of them are looking forward to the X Games' new adventure in China later this year.

"We were never worried [when Totsuka took the early lead]," Tony Richardson told Xinhua. "James is the best in the world - you'll see him on the podium in Beijing 2022."

Since first coming to Aspen in 2002, the Winter X Games have evolved into an international Olympic-type event. This year 159 athletes competed.

The 2019 X Games drew a record crowd of 117,000, mostly millennials, who spent four days in the cold at 8,000-feet, watching the best trick ski and snowboarders in the world, and listening to international music artists like Lil Wayne, in an event staged by sports network ESPN.

Each year, ski and "board" lovers invade the little town of Aspen, where house prices average 4.2 million dollars and Hollywood celebrities have second homes, to attend the blockbuster sports event.

Aspen has been a legendary American ski town since the early 20th century, the home of many Olympic and international skiers.

The 2019 X Games were dominated by the United States, Canada, and Norway, and each collected around 10 medals. But China is slowly gaining increasing coverage as well.

Cai Wentong grabbed a bronze medal in the women's superpipe competition for the country's sole medal, edging out teammate Liu Jiayu, with Japan's Haruna Matsumoto finishing fifth.

WELCOME TO CHINA

Earlier this month, ESPN announced it would take its highly successful X Games formula to China this year, for both summer and winter games, with the first edition to happen in late May in Shanghai.

"It's a great honor to be among the first athletes invited to help announce X Games China," Cai Wentong said.

X Games feature sports that are also Olympic events.

In Aspen, snowboard and skiing medals were offered in Superpipe, Big Air and Slopestyle events, with a new "Knuckle Huck" event starting in 2019.

"X Games is a great spectator event that is popular with young people all over the world, and is a great expression of their vitality and potential," Cai said.

X Games officials told Xinhua they are confident the Olympic-caliber event will be highly successful in China.

"We're proud to work with ESPN to bring the X Games to China and produce world-class events showcasing the top action sports athletes in the world, as well as the music, art and culture that connects so well with the youth and sports lifestyle," said Renextop CEO Lillian Chen.

Cai, a three-time X Games snowboard medalist and the first Chinese athlete ever to medal at X Games, said "for me, the X Games represent realness and limitless possibility."

GLOBAL REACH

The Richardson couple have been married for 30 years, and are both avid snowboarders as well as elementary school teachers. Ironically, they have never met James - Australia's new superstar.

"We see him around town, that's all," Tony Richardson told Xinhua. "We're just loyal Australians and love this sport."

Both Richardsons told Xinhua that they expected to see more Chinese athletes competing in X Games events in the future.

"The notable thing about this type of sport is that you do not need a trainer, or formal instruction," said Tony.

The Melbourne native said that many of the snowboarding greats have not fit into the traditional mold of rigorous, heavily disciplined athletes who prevail at Olympic level.

"These athletes do these extraordinarily difficult events because they love the sport and the snowboarding community," Richardson said.

The new Knuckle Huck event embodies the same mentality that is pervasive throughout the snowboarding community, officials told Xinhua.

Knuckle Huck features competitors performing unrehearsed snowboarding, air flips and turns, in an unstructured format that allows riders great creativity and flexibility with their routines.

It was showcased as an event for the first time at the 2019 X Games and was won by Norwegian Fridtjof Saether Tishendorf.

The X Games snowboarding club is a unique group: young men and women who perform daredevil feats - twisting and turning like gymnasts while flying down a mountain at 80 kilometers per hour, catching "Big Air" of up to 30 meters, and landing on hard packed snow and ice. Enditem

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