Danny Davis grabs gold in Snowboard SuperPipe

ByCOLIN BANE
January 26, 2014, 11:48 PM

— -- ASPEN, Colo. -- In a momentous close to X Games Aspen 2014, Danny Davis won gold in the men's Snowboard SuperPipe on Sunday night, beating out Louie Vito and Greg Bretz. It was Davis' first time qualifying for the final in six X Games appearances.

"I can't believe it really," said Davis, who set himself apart with rare and stylish technical tricks like a huge switch method and tweaked-out McTwist, as well as the double cork spins that have become standard in this event. "I'm going to ride this switch method train as long as it will last."

Davis lamented the fact that six-time Snowboard SuperPipe champion Shaun White was absent from the contest. White skipped X Games Aspen this year to focus on training for the Sochi Olympics, where he's competing in both halfpipe and slopestyle.

"It's bittersweet when Shaun's not here -- you know, he's the one to beat -- but forget it, I'll take it," Davis said.

Davis, Bretz and Taylor Gold -- who missed the cut for the final -- will join White next month in Sochi with the U.S. Olympic team.

Swiss rider Iouri Podladtchikov, whose switch frontside 1440 "YOLO flip" might have been unbeatable if he had been able to land it cleanly in the final Sunday, finished in sixth, and Chinese rider Yiwei Zhang, an X Games rookie, made a big impression but ultimately finished in seventh place.