He has an Olympic gold medal to his name. He’s taken the Dew Tour slopestyle title in back-to-back seasons (2020 and 2021). He’s won four World Cups.
But at X Games, held in his home state of Colorado and the contest that he grew up watching, Red Gerard had only collected one medal in seven appearances—slopestyle bronze at X Games Aspen 2020.
The elusive X Games gold medal was “100 percent” a monkey on his back, Gerard told me. But he emphatically ripped that monkey off and threw it to the ground on Sunday at X Games Aspen 2024, where Gerard put down three runs of 93 points or higher to hold off twice-defending champion Mark McMorris and finally feel the weight of that gold medal around his neck.
“I never want to say ‘I have enough podiums;’ I’ll always want more, but it’s always been the one I could just never get,” an ecstatic Gerard told me after his win. “Honestly, it’s one of the better wins I’ve ever had.”
It was also one of the best performances he’s ever turned in. Three of the top five runs of the contest belonged to Gerard as he focused on cleaning up the contest run he said he’s been “thinking about for a long time.”
Though he was briefly bumped to silver-medal position by McMorris, Gerard turned in a gold-medal showing on his third run. On the rails section, Gerard went with a boardslide 180 switch-up gap to switch frontside boardslide on the wall, boardslide pretzel 270 to switch 50-50, switch boardslide transfer to boardslide 270 out and switch frontside boardslide 270 out.
On to the jumps section, Gerard started with a Cab double cork 1080 Weddle off the shark fin jump before carrying his momentum into a switch backside 1620 melon and backside 1800 melon.
The near-flawless, styled-out run earned a 97.00 from the judges to vault Gerard to the top of the standings.
“It’s something I’ve just wanted to do so bad,” Gerard said about his run. “I really wanted to link together the 16 to 18 combo.” A few days of practice on the course had Gerard feeling confident about landing everything. “I think it’s the best X Games course I’ve ever ridden,” Gerard said.
McMorris, as the last rider in the order, had the final say, and his reputation as a closer meant Gerard wasn’t taking anything for granted.
On his third run, McMorris went 50-50 gap frontside 270 tailslide 270 out, frontside boardslide transfer to frontside boardslide out to switch, hardway 270 backside lipslide to switch on the rainbow rail in the rails section and then Cab double cork 1080 Weddle from shark fin jump, switch backside triple cork 1620 melon and backside triple cork 1620 Indy on the jumps.
But when McMorris briefly dragged his hand on the ground landing his backside triple 1620 Indy, earning him a 96.00, Gerard’s wait was officially over.
‘He’s such a good kid,” McMorris, 30, said of Gerard, 23. He’s always been capable of it and it’s cool to see him grab a gold. It’s fun to share podiums with your friends.”
Though he may have checked an X Games gold medal off his list, Gerard isn’t one to rest on his laurels. Under his laid-back demeanor is a heated competitor. Later this week, he’ll head to Mammoth Mountain for the U.S. Grand Prix.
“I’m thinking Mammoth will maybe be one of my last contests of the season and then I’ll head into the backcountry, so it would be sweet to end Mammoth on a high note,” Gerard said. But the win at X Games is serving as a newfound burst of momentum.