Maggie Voisin and Devin Logan became teammates four years ago before the Olympics, and despite all the competitions since then they have become skiing sisters from another mother.

That bond has been important over the past few weeks during a long stretch on the road to the Pyeongchang Games, and it showed Saturday at X Games Aspen after the slopestyle finals. Having finished earlier, Logan stayed at the bottom of the course and waited for Voisin, who took her last run with the gold already in hand coming off a fast and clean first run.

After Voisin’s victory lap, she and Logan embraced in a long, powerful hug that was full of celebration and relief. They will retreat to Park City, Utah, for a week along with other Olympic-bound athletes to rest, relax and refocus as they prep for South Korea.

Voisin, 19, and Logan, 24, connected before the 2014 Sochi Games, which became a dichotomy for the pair. Then 15, Voisin did not compete after breaking her ankle in training while in Russia; Logan, who barely a year earlier blew out her knee, put down a solid first run to win silver in the sport’s Olympic debut.

“D-Lo is my big sister. She takes care of me. I take care of her,” Voisin, who has a twin brother, said after Saturday’s win. “Me and Devin have this special, special friendship. She kind of took me under her wing four years ago when I got on the U.S. team. Our friendship, it’s so special.”

For the past two months, freeskiers and snowboarders bounced around Colorado and California trying to get qualified for the Olympics. They all came into Aspen with focus and a free spirit and without the pressure of securing a return to the Winter Games. Voisin did so at the Snowmass Grand Prix, and Logan did it three days later at the final qualifying event at Mammoth, California.

“It’s been a long three weeks of competing,” Voisin said, “but to end it this month with a gold X Games medal, it really doesn’t get much better than that.”

Isabel Atkin, who skis for Great Britain but grew up in Boston and now trains in Park City, finished second Saturday, just ahead of X Games rookie Jennie-Lee Brumansson. The 15-year-old from Sweden leads the World Cup standings and will compete in South Korea with teammate Emma Dahlstrom, who finished fifth Saturday and fifth at the 2014 Olympics.

Logan, who grew up with four siblings, including older brothers who are pro skiers, has been going twice as hard as most, qualifying also in the halfpipe. She was fifth in the pipe Thursday at X Games and finished sixth Saturday in slope after taking a few low-key laps. She’ll compete Sunday in the X Games Big Air finals before relaxing in Park City.

“I think I’m due for some rest. It’s been a crazy season with qualifications and my season is doubled up more than anyone else, so I think I deserve a rest,” said Logan, who is the only athlete to compete in all three events. “But I’m really happy here at X Games and want to take that confidence going into Pyeongchang.”

Logan will compete in the Olympics in the slopestyle (Feb. 17 finals) and the halfpipe (Feb. 20); Big Air is not a medal event for skiers.

Voisin, who is the first U.S. woman to win gold in the X Games Aspen slopestyle, said the break will be beneficial, but she doesn’t have a set agenda in Utah.

“It’s definitely going to be a relaxing time. If I learn something new, then awesome,” she said Saturday. “If I don’t, just stay healthy and get excited for Pyeongchang.”

dkrause@aspentimes.com

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After a rough few days in Snowmass, Telluride freeskier Gus Kenworthy came into Sunday’s U.S.-team selection slopestyle event with a little tighter focus knowing the Team USA qualifying was coming down to the wire.

Kenworthy, who won slopestyle silver at the Sochi Games, did not advance to the finals of Thursday’s Toyota Grand Prix slope event. He made the halfpipe finals Friday but struggled and finished seventh.

He found his “head space” on his second run Sunday in a makeup event on the schedule, clearing the rails and putting together spins of 1,440 then 1,260 and finishing with a 1,080 for 95.40 points, which held through the third round.

It moves him into second in the slopestyle rankings with a win in hand. The final two slopestyle qualifiers are at Mammoth Mountain this week as well as the last pipe selection event.

“I didn’t make the finals in the first event because I messed up both of my runs,” Kenworthy said of Wednesday’s qualifier. “I think it lit a fire under my ass and I realized how much I had to step it up in the last two days (at Snowmass). I didn’t get the pipe results I was hoping for, but I did some new tricks so that was good for me but it didn’t yield the result I wanted.

“But to come in today and land the run I wanted and get on the top of the podium, it’s so much confidence going into Mammoth.”

His win kept teammate Nick Goepper from earning an official invitation to the Olympics. Had Goepper finished second behind anyone but another American he would have gotten the nomination. However, since he picked up his second podium finish, Goepper has met the objective Olympic criteria and he also sits atop the U.S. selection rankings.

“I am feeling great sitting in a really good position qualifying for the Olympics,” said Goepper, who was second at Dew Tour in December.

A half-dozen athletes left Snowmass knowing they’ve got a trip to South Korea on the schedule next month, and a number of others are in good position heading into this week’s final Team USA qualifiers.

Coming into Snowmass, only three athletes had secured a spot on Team USA with Chris Corning and Jamie Anderson in slopestyle (neither competed in Snowmass) and Chloe Kim, who finished second in Saturday’s halfpipe finals.

But joining them for sure after Snowmass are snowboarders Shaun White, Jate Pates of Eagle and Ben Ferguson in halfpipe; Silverthorne boarder Red Gerard and skier Maggie Voisin in slopestyle; and halfpipe skier David Wise.

With the American men’s ski halfpipe sweep at the Grand Prix, Wise clinched his nomination with the win, and Aspen’s Alex Ferreira and Aaron Blunck of Crested Butte made the objective Olympic criteria by getting on the podium. If Ferreira finishes first or second in Mammoth he would clinch his spot.

Aspen halfpipe skier Torin Yater-Wallace, who did not advance out of the qualifier at the Snowmass Grand Prix, is third in the U.S. Team selection rankings and remains in the mix along with Kenworthy, who is fifth in the ski pipe standings. Yater-Wallace won a qualifier event last season but still needs a second podium.

The rest of the U.S. teams will be announced soon after the Mammoth events. There are 26 overall spots on the U.S. snowboard team and 30 on the freestyle skiing team. Each discipline can have as many as four skiers or boarders, but U.S. officials can shift the numbers.

Also confirmed on the snowboard team in boardercross are Jonathan Cheever, Lindsey Jacobellis and Faye Gulini.

The Grand Prix weekend at Snowmass was punctuated by White’s perfect run Saturday to win the halfpipe and clinch his fourth trip to the Olympics.

“I’m just going to take this run I’m doing now and just build — get it bigger, better, more technical tricks. I’m so excited,” the 31-year-old White said. “Now the pressure’s kind of off and I get to train. Mammoth will be fun practice, but it’s not like everything is boiling down to the last Olympic qualifier to make the team. Man, we locked it up big time.”

Gerard, 17, also will compete in the big air event, which is making its Olympic debut. The slopestyle riders will represent in big air.

“I’m feeling good. This was a pretty fun contest,” Gerard said. “I love riding at Snowmass. They have amazing jumps and everything. It feels good that I ended the week in first.”

Since Sunday’s ski slopestyle event was not FIS-sanctioned, the field was American-heavy with five U.S. riders in the 10-man field. The women’s field was much the same, and Voisin continued her strong weekend with a second-place run Sunday. British skier Isabel Atkins, who grew up in Boston and trains in Park City, Utah, but has citizenship through her father, won Sunday’s slopestyle.

dkrause@aspentimes.com

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