France triumphs at X Games - James Cove, Tignes
Thursday March 11, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The French took gold and silver at the opening event of the X Games in Tignes; the men's super pipe. It's the first time the event has been held outside of the US and attracts the best of the best.

To the delight of the home crowd Kevin Rolland, from La Plagne, won and the local boy Xavier Bertoni from Tignes came second.

It was a dream start for the French and the crowd went wild.

Hundreds of people lined the pipe and they saw an awesome display.

Check out the incredible display below.

Rowland; Happy and bewildered Rolland; Happy and bewildered

Kevin Rolland was mobbed immediately after he won and as he made his way through the crowds to the winners podium it was a scene more reminiscent of a rock concert with loud music thumping out and chants of "Kevin, Kevin, Kevin" erupting.

PlanetSKI grabbed a very quick word with him and he looked genuinely bewildered by the reception the crowd gave him.

"Awesome, c'est bon!" he said to me with a massive smile on his face.

Later he had a slightly more considered response.

“I couldn’t have dreamt of a better situation,” Rolland said. “Me and Bertoni were one and three in Aspen and now for the first edition at home we are one and two.”

The difficulty of Rolland’s run with his two double flips and double cork 1260 mute grab on his last hit of his third run were unmatched.

Rolland was the first skier ever to throw this in competition at Winter X Games 14 in Aspen, and he is still the only skier who has landed it in a competition.

The Canadian, Justin Dorey, took third place.

“Because I am from North America, the X Games in Aspen means more to me, but for Kevin and Xavier to win here in their own country of France, it must mean the same,” Dorey said.

See the video below of the view from the side as some of the men dropped in.

The event is being held at Val Claret and the resort's normal half pipe has been expanded to make it a super pipe - 220m long, 18m wide and 6m high.

It took 5 weeks for 3 huge machines to construct it and 2 extra snow canons were installed to help.

The slopestyle will be held on the nearby double M run and has 4 rails and 8 other snow structures, including a table top and big air.

Workers say it took 100's of hours to prepare.

However, we have heard that some of the athletes taking part are complaining that some of the jumps are not big enough for them to really show their stuff.

As the male snowboarders fought it out on Thursday afternoon it looked pretty good to us.

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Full results:

1. Kevin Rolland, La Plagne, France 95.660
2. Xavier Bertoni, Tignes, France 92.000
3. Justin Dorey, Vernon, Canada 86.660
4. Mike Riddle, Sherwood Park, Canada 85.000
5. Byron Wells, Wanaka, New Zealand 84.330
6. Jossi Wells , Wanaka, New Zealand 82.660
7. Tucker Perkins, North Hampton, NH, USA 80.330
8. AJ Kemppainen, Kuusamo, Finland 75.330

See this related PlanetSKI story previewing the X Games.

TV coverage will be exclusive on ESPN and ESPN HD.

Should be quite a spectacle.

Winter X Games Europe Tignes: ESPN UK Coverage Schedule

Wednesday, 10th March

1700     Ski SuperPipe Men's Final - Live

Thursday, 11th March

1230     Snowboard Slopestyle Men's Final - Live

1530     Snowboard SuperPipe Women's Final - Live

Friday, 12th March

0830     Ski Slopestyle Women's Final - Live

1030     Snowboard Slopestyle Women's Final - Live

1230     Ski Slopestyle Men's Final - Live

1500     Ski SuperPipe Women's Final - Live

1700     Snowboard SuperPipe Men's Final - Live