X Games: The snowboarders showing that age is just a number

Queralt Castellet is proof that being hyped in the halfpipe doesn't have an age limit.

The Halfpipe competition at the Laax Open in Switzerland had just been canceled due to poor conditions. But the snowboarders present still gave the crowd a show.

Castellet, who earned Spain's first Winter Olympic medal when she won silver last year in Beijing , dropped into the superpipe with Canadian Brooke Dhondt, a snowbarder nearly half her age.

"It was so cool," Castellet, 33, told DW. "[Dhondt] is very young, but she's like, 'Can I follow you? I'm so hyped.' And I'm like, 'I'm so hyped, too. Let's go shred together.'"

The Spanish action sports star will be the oldest Halfpipe snowboarder invited to this year's X Games, which begin on Friday in Aspen, Colorado. She is already the oldest to win an X Games Halfpipe gold medal and is one of the favorites this year with Olympic Halfpipe gold medalist Chloe Kim on hiatus to study.

But Castellet doesn't pay any attention to the age difference between her and her younger competitors.

"I don't think there's any merit to it," she said. "I've got the age that I got. I'm lucky that I've been snowboarding for so long, and every day I enjoy it more."

Similarly, Austria's Anna Gasser, 31, will be the only over-30 competitor in the women's big air and slopestyle events at the X Games.

"Weirdly, I don't feel like the oldest," Gasser, who won Olympic gold in Big Air in Beijing, told DW. "I like riding with the younger ones because they inspire me."

Over-30s reaching new heights

Snowboarding, like skiing, has seen many athletes compete well into their 30s and even their 40s, some even at the elite level.

American Lindsey Jacobellis, for instance, stuck around long enough to avenge her fall in the Snowboard Cross at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin bywinning gold at last year's Beijing Games at the age of 36.

However, there is little precedent for snowboarders over 30 competing at a high level in park and pipe events. The most notable example is Shaun White who, at age 31, won gold in the men's halfpipe at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and, at age 35, just missed out on the podium at his last Winter Olympics in Beijing.

When Castellet won gold in the Superpipe at the 2020 X Games, she became just the second 30-and-over snowboarder to win an X Games event. American Jamie Anderson became the third a year later when, aged 31, she became the first over-30 Slopestyle and Big Air winner.

On the men's side, the X Games hasn't seen an over-30 gold medalist in any park and pipe event since Todd Richards won the halfpipe competition in 2000.

But the reason for the fewer action stars in snow sports might not be down to physical attributes. Both Castellet and Gasser insisted to DW that, despite their age, they are in peak physical condition.

"I honestly feel fitter than ever right now because I haven't had an injury in the last two years," Gasser said. "I really don't feel disadvantaged being older right now."

Sabine Wehr-Hasler, a two-time German Olympian and the second oldest woman to win a World Cup halfpipe event, provided a simpler explanation for the lack of top-level over-30s: money.

"If you are not top level like, say, top three, it's hard to making a living from it," Wehr-Hasler told DW.

By the same token, money is also the reason why some can compete longer than before. Even though the ski federations haven't invested funds in things like prize money, companies like energy drink makers Red Bull and Monster as well as board companies like Burton and Nitro are providing the resources to allow athletes to stay in shape.

"With social media, with the big companies who are in the sport, there are more possibilities to compete at an older age," Wehr-Hasler said. "Also with the training possibilities you have all the possibilities with foam pits, trampolines, whatever to stay in shape."

Castellet agrees: "I think there's a difference making it financially doable. There's a very big difference between now and 15 years ago."

The value of experience

Contrary to many of her peers, Castellet has benefitted from her longevity, her best results coming as she got older. Though she first qualified for the Olympics in 2006 as a 16-year-old, her first medal came at last year's Winter Games in Beijing. At the X Games, eight years separated her bronze medal in 2011 from a silver she won in 2019.

"I've learned from so many different moments and different eras," she said. "Everyday is an opportunity to enjoy, to learn from the snow and from the mountain. Every time I strap into my snowboard, it's an opportunity to make it the best day of my career."

Gasser, who was also a late bloomer, attributes much of her late success to her experience. Not only does she feel more comfortable on the slope, but she feels safer doing her tricks.

"I feel like I'm making smarter decisions, knowing when to take risks, when not to take risks," she said. "Experience from previous years really helps, especially when the conditions are not perfect."

'My plan is to shred'

Given how much the sport has progressed, Wehr-Hasler admitted that she would have difficulty keeping up with snowboarders on the circuit now. But neither Castellet nor Gasser believe they're in danger of falling behind as the limits of the sport are pushed.

"We inspire each other," said Castellet. "My courage gives them courage, their courage gives me courage. I don't think there is a barrier between us. I think we're in the same group."

"I know the sport is progressing and I need to push, but the others also have to push. It's not just me," said Gasser.

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina are still years away, but neither think in terms of Olympic cycles anyway. In fact, both believe that having a career plan goes against the spirit of the sport.

"I don't think freestyle snowboarding is planable," Gasser said. "As long as I'm good, I don't see any reason I should stop."

However Gasser does admit that she only wants to keep going as long as she can remain competitive. "I'm not going to go to the next Olympics if I don't feel like I have the tricks to be on the podium. I only want to compete as long as I can compete with the best."

Castellet has left her future a little more open and believes that she wouldn't be here if she had a plan. "My plan is to shred and that's it," she said.

Edited by Matt Ford