Luca Harrington did not sneak in the back door this time.
A year after winning a stunning freeski slopestyle gold medal at the invite-only X Games, the Wānaka wonder made it a double today.
Harrington, 21, was one of the unexpected stories of the prestigious event a year ago when he got in only as an alternate but promptly won slopestyle gold and big air silver.
After going on to become big air world champion and Crystal Globe holder, Harrington was on everyone’s watchlist at the Aspen X Games this year.
He banked silver in big air on Saturday and followed by charging to gold in slopestyle today in a promising sign just a couple of weeks out from the Winter Olympics in Italy.
‘‘It was extremely tough conditions out there for all of us, but I could not be more stoked to go back to back,’’ Harrington told the X Games broadcast.
‘‘It means the world to me. I can’t even believe it.’’
He wowed the judges with a remarkably high triple flip on his first jump, and added a triple cork on the last.
Harrington’s heroics appeared to motivate the rest of the field.
A succession of impressive efforts followed in the second run, leaving the young New
Zealander sixth and knowing 92.66 was the score to beat.
After negotiating the rails at the top, he unleashed a triple cork 1440 on his first jump into a left-side double cork 1260, and finished with a triple cork 1440.
The judges’ scores came in and Harrington pumped his arms and let out a primal roar when ‘‘94.33’’ was announced.
Harrington still had to wait for one more skier, but his score would not be beaten.
On Saturday, he landed some big jumps to score 94.66 in big air and was only pipped for gold by American star Mac Forehand with an even 96.
The queen of the New Zealand park and pipe team added another X games medal to her collection on Saturday.
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, 24, kept fans on the edge of their seats as she saved her best for last in the snowboard slopestyle event.
Facing nine of the world’s top snowboarders, she scored a 93 on her final run to confirm silver behind British boarder Mia Brookes.
It was a 12th X Games medal for the reigning Olympic and world champion.
Sadowski-Synnott said she was pleased to get the competition under her belt before the Olympics.
“All the hard work has been done at this point, so I’ll take time to rest, recover and prepare,” she said.
Snow Sports NZ park and pipe head coach Tom Willmott was ‘‘stoked’’ to see the star snowboarder back in action.
‘‘That steely focus before dropping in and big smile at the bottom of her run... she is the queen of clutch.
‘‘It’s a great step towards the big event next month in Italy.”
Sadowski-Synnott was supposed to compete in big air today but it was postponed due to inclement weather.
