5 Athletes You Must Watch At X Games
— -- The first Winter X Games, in 1997, included the now-defunct sports of speed ice climbing and snow mountain bike -- and if you've got a minute, it's worth giving both a Google. Now, 19 years later, the event has come a long way, with bona fide stars like Kelly Clark and Lindsey Jacobellis back this year, looking to add to their 22-medal combined haul. Beyond that power duo, here are five women who will make X Games Aspen 2015 must-see TV.
Roz Groenewoud, Ski SuperPipe
Tune in live: Wednesday, Jan. 21, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN3
At 5-foot-10, Groenewoud is one of the tallest freeski athletes in the halfpipe -- male or female -- and is known for her boosting airs. But she's also a giant in the classroom. In the summers, she's working toward an arts and science degree at Quest University in Squamish, British Columbia. This summer, she took neurobiology and neuroscience courses and spent a month shadowing her orthopedic surgeon in the operating room -- she watched 45 ACL reconstructions -- and in his clinic.
Eva Samkova, Snowboarder X
Tune in live: Friday, Jan. 23, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN3
A rookie in 2014, Samkova took silver at X Games Aspen and followed that with Olympic gold in Sochi. But her real standout move: The 21-year-old from the Czech Republic draws a red-white-and-blue mustache on her mug before every finals race. She first sported a stache at junior world championships in 2010 -- "for fun" -- and it worked. She won the junior world title in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Since then, she's had a coach or teammate ink another mustache on her upper lip before every finals race.
Dara Howell, Ski Slopestyle
Tune in live: Saturday, Jan. 24, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC
When Howell landed her final run in Sochi, the Twitterverse erupted with fellow freeskiers calling it the best by a woman on a slopestyle course ever. After a clean technical rail section, Howell, 25, landed a switch cork 720 with a high safety grab, a switch misty 900 mute grab, and a huge flatspin 540 bow and arrow. If the Canadian lands that run in Aspen, she should add her first X Games gold to her recent medal haul.
Chloe Kim, Snowboard SuperPipe
Tune in live: Saturday, Jan. 24, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN3
During X Games Aspen broadcasts, the audience at home is privy to several behind-the-scenes cameras, including one in the warming tent at the top of the SuperPipe. No one was more adorable to watch during the 2014 comp than 13-year-old Chloe Kim, who spent her between-run time sending Snapchats to her friends and posting pics to Instagram, all the while flashing her sparkly gold fingernails. Last year, Kim became the youngest silver medalist in Winter X history. This year, she's looking for a medal that better matches that manicure.
(Kim's silver medal-winning run is at 53:00)
Jamie Anderson, Snowboard Slopestyle
Tune in live: Sunday, Jan. 25, 11:45 a.m. ET, ESPN3
If you watched the first two weeks of "Celebrity Apprentice," you likely caught Anderson, the four-time Winter X Games champ and Sochi gold medalist, who was "fired" after her Week 2 loss as project manager. Even if she didn't win over The Donald, she did earn a sizable check for her charity, Protect Our Winters, and stuck it to Trump for his "global warming hoax" tweets. Feel free to call Anderson a tree hugger; she's earned the tag. Before contests at Winter X, you'll see her walk off the course and wrap her arms around an Aspen pine to pull energy from the environment and calm her nerves.
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