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LAVALLEE LAUNCHES INTO TOP SPOT

LAVALLEE LAUNCHES INTO TOP SPOT
Earns gold in only second-ever HillCross event
ASPEN, Colo. - It may have only been Launchin' Levi LaVallee's second time, but he certainly looked like he had been there many times before.

The 21-year-old from Longville, Minn. launched into the lead early and never looked back as he left Justin Tate (Forest Lake, Minn.) and Carl Kuster (Westlock, AB Canada) in his wake on the way to his first-ever X Games medal in the HillCross final.

"I felt like I had to redeem myself because I didn't do well in SnoCross," said LaVallee, who finished eighth on Sunday. "I was ripping gnarly hole shots all day. The sled was running great."

Tate, like LaVallee, also walked away with his first career X Games medal - this one a silver. "I made a mistake early (and a few guys got past me) but I was lucky enough that I got a good line midway through the course to take it the rest of the way," he said.

Kuster added a bronze to his collection of two golds and a silver in his last four HillCross events. It was made even more remarkable by the fact that a bent rod on the front of his sled wreaked havoc with grip all day.

Winter X Games VIII, the signature winter action sports event, features the talents of more than 250 of the world's best action sports athletes competing in Moto X, Ski, Snowboard, Snowmobile, and UltraCross. The event was held at Aspen/Snowmass, Colo. through January 27.

Winter X Games VIII marks the first time an X Games event will feature live telecasts of the competitions. ESPN and ABC are featuring 15 hours of original live programming January 24-27. In addition, ESPN2 is presenting daily late-night highlight programs from January 25-28, resulting in 19 total hours of original programming for Winter X Games VIII.

For the first time, SportsCenter, ESPN's flagship daily news program, will report live from Aspen/Snowmass on Monday, January 26 and Tuesday, January 27, hosted by Linda Cohn. Each of those nights, the 11 p.m. ET SportsCenter will contain live event coverage from Winter X Games VIII.

ESPN, The Worldwide Leader in Action Sports, first developed its X Games franchise in 1995. The 10th annual X Games will take place in Los Angeles in August.
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For complete listings of all results and releases from Winter X Games VIII log onto www.espneventmedia.com
Contacts: Ryan McGuinness, cell: 213-276-2855, ryan.p.mcguinness@espn.com
Melissa Gullotti, cell: 802-236-9349, melissa.c.gullotti@espn.com

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