Winter X-Games 2025 is not complete without Alex Ferreira | Whiteout
Seven-time X-Games Superpipe medalist Alex Ferreira has a lot to say before he takes flight in the halfpipe over the Buttermilk Mountain skies Saturday in Aspen.
“Remember your training, kinda like Karate Kid style, and go for it.”
And if he does, Ferreira promised he’ll land all four-way spinning double flips cleanly and walk away with another X-Games gold medal.
FILE- Chipotle Men’s Ski Superpipe gold medalist Alex Ferreira, center, silver medalist Nico Porteous, left, and bronze medalist Hunter Hess pose on the podium at the base of the superpipe at the X Games on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, in Aspen, Colo. The X Games wrapped Sunday after three days of competition.
“My goal is to be the champion, win with style and grace,” he said. “And you know, do it for my (home) town. Do it for my state.”
Born in Aspen, Ferreira is a Colorado native who grew up skiing on the slopes of Aspen/Snowmass as a member of the Aspen Valley Ski Club.
He had his first taste of victory in ski competitions in February 2012 at the Gatorade Freelow Finals youth halfpipe competition at Snowbird in Utah. After that, it is was game on.
Since his first X-Games medal in 2014, Ferreira has been “The” American male in halfpipe competitions. With successes at X-Games, FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup and the Olympics, Ferreira has some what quietly amassed a resume of winning medals during his tenure.
But a big part of his success, as Ferreira said, is that he maintains a healthy lifestyle to go along with his Mr. Miyagi training.
“I live a very healthy lifestyle, I’m only putting clean and good things in my body,” Ferreira said. “I don’t drink coffee or anything like that. I’ll typically have a Celsius sparkling orange to juice me up a bit and get the senses going.”
Rightfully so that athletes of Ferreira’s caliber have chosen to eat and drink clean in order to perform at top-notch levels out on the slopes.
A shift over the last two decades toward healthy eating and less alcohol consumption have become mainstream among younger adults, anecdotally speaking the days of skiing ‘hungover’ in competitions…Bode Miller…are gone.
A 2023 Gallup poll reported people aged 18- to 34-year-olds are drinking less after asked ‘whether they ever have on occasion use alcoholic beverages’ decreased 10% points from 72% to 62% between 2001-03 to 2021-23.
Two-time Olympic medalist and seven-time X-Games medalist Alex Ferreira takes a drink from a Celsius energy drink with his skis on his shoulders.
And Ferreira is part of that age bracket trend, choosing to train hard and partake in no alcohol, but drinking beverages like Celsius help boost his body while on the slopes.
“I train a lot, I am at the gym all the time and I am at the sauna visualizing my runs,” Ferreira said. “I will go to a sports psychologist, I will, in the summertime, jump on the trampoline a ton, do a lot of rollerblading training, ice skate training, cross country ski training. Pretty much anything that is athletic and dedicated towards balance and/or skiing.”
Ferreira has been busy training in Steamboat for Winter X-Games 2025 with members of the U.S. Ski Team with the likes of David Wise, Hunter Hess and Tristan Feinberg.
“I feel like we’re one big family, honestly. We wanna see each other succeed. We wanna see each other grow,” Ferreira said. “When my friend does well, I’m just as happy as when I do well. If they put down a great run and they’ve worked for it so long and hard and they do it, my hat goes off to them.”
What to expect from Ferreira on the Superpipe
Ferreira is No. 8 on the starting list for Saturday’s Monster Energy Men’s Ski Superpipe and will look to claim a fourth gold medal in the event.
“I have 3 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals, so 7 total,” Ferreira said. “I’m competing to win, not just to compete.”
The evolution of spins from skiers in the halfpipe as gone from 1080s winning comps in 2004 to having to at least do a 1620 in 2025 in order to have a shot at placing. Adding a high difficultly grab to the spin at 21-feet above the halfpipe lip only adds to stoke in securing the win.
“We’ll see if I’m the first person to do both ways 1620s, with different grabs besides safety,” Ferreira said. “That would be my goal for X-Games.”
Ferreira is also eyeing competing in the 2026 Cortina Olympics.
“Going into the Olympics in ’26, I definitely would love to be doing all four waist-spinning double flips, but a switch double cork 1440 and both-ways double cork 1620s with tail grabs,” he said.
WATCH: Alex Ferreira on the slopes of Switzerland as his alter ego Hotdog Hans
Courtesy, HotDogHans
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