Aspen, Colo. – The Monster Energy team swept the podium as Joe Parsons earned the gold, Heath Frisby the silver, and Brett Turcotte the bronze in Monster Energy Snowmobile Freestyle at X Games Aspen 2016. Their teammate Cory Davis backed them with a solid fourth place finish, meaning the four Monster Energy athletes in the finals took the top four spots.
The Monster Energy Snowmobile Freestyle event was set up to be an epic show. Each of the eight riders in the finals got two runs with their top score counting. The judges looked for variation in both right-side up and upside down tricks. The more tweaked out and stretched the trick, the higher the score.
The field was ready to battle. Parsons was hungry—though he has three gold medals to his name, he’s been gold-less since 2011, settling for silver five times. Also hungry was Turcotte, a former racer who was appearing in Snowmobile Freestyle for the first time ever.
Throughout his career Parsons has been known as an extremely consistent competitor. With 15 medals counting this win, he is the most decorated snowmobiler in X Games history. That consistent strategy paid off as he threw down a duo of runs full of both technical, dangerous tricks as well as variety. In run one, the 28-year-old ex-racer threw down his trademark Gator Wrestler, a switch flip and a super late “Parsby” flip (aka a sit-and-spin backflip) as an ode to his teammate Frisby. The score locked in the gold.
After the final, Parsons said, “I didn’t play it safe and I put down the run I wanted to. Always being consistent is my game plan, and tonight it paid off.”
Meanwhile his teammate Frisby, a consistent podium threat, brought his trademark amplitude to the final to bag the silver. Known for his massive tricks, the 31-year-old showed great variation both right-side up and on backflip variations. His tricks included a tweaked-out Kiss of Death backflip to earn a big score of 87.66, a testament to the fact that the judges appreciate the big tricks. This is the 11th career medal for Frisby.
Excited that he and his good friend Parsons took the top two spots, Frisby said, “Joe and I knew there were a lot of gnarly guys, but we rode smart and did what we could best. People just made mistakes and Joe and I fell right into gold and silver, the two amigos. So pumped!”
Taking the bronze medal, Turcotte looked calm and cool coming into his first-ever X Games freestyle competition. A former racer, he now practices at home in Canada on his 100-acre lot at 8,000 ft., perhaps the perfect training ground for Aspen conditions. After an impressive practice, the 27-year-old quickly became a podium favorite. Taking the unique approach of keeping the sled pinned while jumping and racing around the course, he went fast and fit in a lot of tricks. His second run was his best and full of combination maneuvers, including heel clicker to superman flips, super flips and big one-footed whips.
Turcotte said, “It was a pretty eventful night. I put together a run I knew how to do and it got me a medal. We got a bunch of Monster athletes on the podium, so I’m stoked. I’m ready to go home and shred some trees and pow and film some backcountry segments.”
Meanwhile, their Monster Energy teammate, Davis backed them up, looking sharp and earning fourth place thanks to a fully-committed run. Besides some technical backflip variations, Davis brought his huge tweaked-out whips that sent his 450-lb. sled sideways and beyond, certainly a fan favorite.
“Tonight was crazy,” continued Parsons after the final. “I didn’t expect to get the gold, but sometimes things just fall into place, and they did tonight.”
Monster Energy returned as the official energy drink partner of X Games. Check out monsterenergy.com and Monster Energy Facebook for exclusive photos, videos and contest results. Search #UnleashedAtX on Instagram and Twitter for exclusive behind-the-scenes looks in Aspen.