Fin Melville Ives continues X Games medal haul
- editor59343
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
New Zealand has taken another gold in the Men’s Ski Superpipe at the X Games with Fin Melville Ives delivering at his best across three runs to dominate the competition.
His performance brought the total haul by the New Zealand athletes to two gold and four silver.
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Once again, Aspen threw up challenging conditions with fresh snow and winds impacting the competition. Melville Ives led from the start scoring 89.33, then improving in his second run to score 93.33, then laying down a fearless run to score a 95.00.
No-one could touch the Wanaka based athlete who impressed the judges in showcasing both amplitude and difficulty, his last run giving 6m of air in his first trick, a switch right 9. A rookie in 2025, he narrowly missed podium with a fourth-place finish.
Melville Ives won silver at the 2024 Youth Winter Olympics and in March last year was crowned the 2025 FIS Freeski Halfpipe World Champion at his debut World Champs.
This year he has scored two World Cup podiums coming first in Freeski Halfpipe at Buttermilk and second in Calgary.
A stoked Melville Ives said conditions were tricky, but the crowd vibe was electric.
“It’s been super surreal. I’m just so grateful to have put down these runs in front of all the fans.” The 19-year-old ski star said he was most stoked to land the switch 14 which he’d never done before in competition.
Also competing was 19-year-old Rocco Jamieson who finished fourth in the Men’s Knuckle Huck while Dane Menzies was 11th in Snowboard Slopestyle on his X Games debut.
