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X Games Aspen opens with ski knuckle huck, won by Americans Alex Hall and Rell Harwood

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Madison Osberger-Low
Aspen Times
Utah's Rell Harwood smiles on the podium after winning the women's ski knuckle huck final on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, during X Games Aspen at Buttermilk Ski Area.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

X Games Aspen 2025 opened with knuckle huck competitions on a cold Thursday evening under the lights at Buttermilk Ski Area. Leading the eight-women field was Rell Harwood of Park City, Utah, last year’s silver medalist. Alex Hall, another Park City product, was the men’s gold medalist.

Run in a 20-minute jam format, with as many runs as time permits, knuckle huck is judged on style and finesse, creativity, originality, and overall impression. Competitors use the “knuckle” of the bottom jump of the slopestyle course as the platform for their tricks.

“I pop off my nose and I do two-and-a-half spins and I land a switch,” she said in describing her favorite of the four runs. “It’s really fun to do.”

Her “butters” — where a skier puts pressure on tips of their skis, the tails then come off the ground, allowing them to spin on the tip of their skis — were strong.

Tereza Korabova from the Czech Republic won silver with creative runs that featured a  nose butter 360 and a hand drag with a flip. The women’s bronze X Games medal went to Anni Karava from Finland, whose second run featured a massive 720.


Karava said she had few expectations.

“I just went into it to have fun, and that’s what I did,” she said. “This is just so sick.”

Utah’s Alex Hall is interviewed on the podium after winning men’s ski knuckle huck on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, during Day 1 of X Games Aspen at Buttermilk Ski Area.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Utah’s Rell Harwood competes in the women’s ski knuckle huck final on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, during X Games Aspen at Buttermilk Ski Area.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

In winning his 12th X Games medal – six of which are gold — Hall put on a style clinic, executing a switch move with a hand movement that his coach Hunter Hess dubbed a “turtle roll slide.” Hall, who is competing in four events this weekend, followed that with a huge 1080.

“I really liked my last trick just because I went big and it was scary, but I landed, so it was fun,” he said.

Finishing second was Matej Svancer from Austria.

“I felt more nervous because I’ve never done any of the four tricks today,” he said.

Near the end of the men’s knuckle huck jam session, Juho Saastamoinen from Finland moved into third, cementing his podium finish with a unique ballet skiing move.

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