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Jake Pates, of Eagle, earns silver medal at new X Games competition

First X Games medal for Olympian snowboarder

Jake Pates at the Snowboard SuperPipe Session during X Games Aspen 2020. Pates finished second in the new event.
Matt Morning / ESPN Images

Jake Pates now has medals from both X Games and Dew Tour.

The Eagle halfpiper finished runner-up in a new X Games competition on Friday night, an event called the SuperPipe Session. The event brought together eight of the world’s best halfpipe snowboarders to get creative in a less-competitive arrangement than a traditional halfpipe event, using more of a free-form format.

While rankings were updated after each rider dropped into the pipe, no scores were given, and a bobble, slip up or even a fall didn’t necessarily disqualify the effort. Tricks that normally wouldn’t find their way into a halfpipe competition were not only debuted, they were encouraged.



Pates was able to showcase his frontside gator roll, a trick where the snowboarder does not jump high above the halfpipe wall, instead opting to touch both gloves down in a handspring-like maneuver, spinning 540 degrees. In a regular halfpipe competition, failing to air outside of the pipe walls, or touching a hand down against the snow, would both work against an athlete’s score. In the halfpipe session, the gator roll helped propel Pates into the top position.

Pates was eventually bumped into the No. 2 spot by fellow Colorado snowboarder Taylor Gold, where he remained as the event ended. The silver medal represents Pates’ first X Games podium finish in four appearances.

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Check out Pates’ show “24SEVEN,” produced by his brother Cole Pates, on YouTube.


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