Wintersports
Snowboarding
Zeb Powell Wins Gold at X Games Aspen
After winning the Snowboard Knuckle Huck event at X Games Aspen, Zeb Powell sits down for an honest interview about his approach, how it feels to win gold and what's next.
Bringing together the best of snowboarding's style, technique, creativity and fun, the X Games Knuckle Huck event showcased top-tier talent from some of the biggest shredders around. Coming out on top with gold, Zeb Powell is still riding the Knuckle Huck high. Read on for his post-win interview.
Red Bull: Your first X Games appearance and you came away with gold, how do you feel?
Zeb Powell: I’m on top of the world. I can’t even believe it, I’m so stoked. It’s like a dream come true, so surreal.
What was your approach to the Knuckle Huck Contest?
I don’t know, didn’t really have anything like laid out, I knew I wanted to do the coffin because that’s my favorite trick and everything kind of just flowed with that. I was trying something else and I learned a new trick in practice. I was kind of nervous for that one but it worked out. Everything else just kinda flowed from the heart.
I’m on top of the world. I can’t even believe it, I’m so stoked. It’s like a dream come true, so surreal.
What makes this contest unique?
You don’t have that normal or formal big air or slope style evaluation. I think it’s really just judged on how stoked you are for the trick or what looked the most fun. Who’s being the most creative, I think that’s really what knuckle huck is all about.
How would you explain the “trick” before the trick. It looked like you bboy’d on a snowboard!
Like so the tricks to doing my tricks? Ohhhh … maybe it’s me or like I don’t know, I like to freestyle before. All the creative riders do it and I like doing it too and adding a little flavor. So I look at the drop in area, and you have no leverage to do anything cool but I was still trying though. I then I fell and then I was like 'oh no this is bad' and I kinda blew my speed so then I just, luckily I know how to get back to my feet really fast so I just liked turned it on and tucked for the knuckle and I think I was so scattered brained after that that I almost forgot what trick I was doing, but then it came back and I sent it off the knuckle and landed on my feet somehow.
What’s next for you?
I don’t know what’s next, hopefully more events like this and more official competitions like X Games. Like the LAAX Open, Dew Tour, US Open. You’ll see me more than once a year.
