Alex Schlopy needed to wake up.
Preparing to compete in the first ever FIS Freestyle Ski Championship men’s slopestyle event in his hometown, on his home mountain, the 18-year-old Schlopy didn’t exactly sleep through his first run of 27.50 points, but he certainly didn’t use his entire arsenal of tricks.
“I had a little cup of coffee up top,” said Schlopy referencing his preparation for his second run. “Loosened up a little bit, listened to some music and got some blood flowing.”
What followed was a leftside 900 spin, a switch 1260 spin and a double-cork 1260. And 41.80 points later, Alex Schlopy, born and raised in Park City, son of two-time Olympian alpine skier Holly Flanders, cousin of three-time Olympian Erik Schlopy, and the owner of a gold medal won last Saturday at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., could have made King Midas himself jealous.
The kid who grew up skiing since he was two and became a gymnastics and tumbling star from ages 8 to 11, had another gold medal to his name.
“I’ve always told him he can be a really positive influence on this sport and the world in general,” Flanders said on a cold, bright blue Thursday afternoon, a bouquet of flowers in hand. “He found his passion and he followed it.”
Schlopy said he isn’t used to waking up so early for a slopestyle competitors were to be on the hill around 7 a.m. Thursday morning much less for anything else.
“My first run dropped in a little early,” he joked.
Alex Schlopy is young, he’s good and he’s enjoying it.
His older sister Beth Anne, 22, who followed in her mother’s footsteps for a while in ski racing, concurred, saying she always knew her younger brother would be successful at whatever he chose to pursue.
“He tried the whole racing thing and it just didn’t really mesh with what he wanted to do,” she said. “He was always into being more extreme and doing tricks.
“He was always doing flips off of stuff. This was kind of the more natural way to go.”
Schlopy got involved in freestyle after a gymnastics coach told him to check it out and, once he combined his loves for acrobatics and skiing, there was no looking back.
“Your mind works completely different than usual,” he said.
Different than usual is what Schlopy has experienced in the last week.
A week ago today, as a rookie at the X Games, Schlopy took the action sports world by storm and pulled off arguably the most memorable trick of this year’s games in Aspen, Colo.
Prepping for his big air run, he said, wasn’t as exaggerated as most would think. He said it’s all about knowing what you can do and sticking with that.
The rookie did a double-cork 1620 a tweaked four-and-a-half mid-air rotation a trick that brought him into the spotlight and his first of two gold medals in five days.
“He’s worked really hard,” Flanders said. “He loves this sport. It’s so fun to see him do well. I think if you do what you’re really passionate about, you can be really successful.”
Thursday morning on King’s Crown run at Park City Mountain Resort, Schlopy’s gilded success continued and for good measure, too. An International Olympic Committee representative was on hand to watch the men’s and women’s slopestyle competitions; slopestyle is one of a number of sports on the bubble for inclusion in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
The hometown roars were there for the youngster after the last competitor fell short of topping his 41.80 score and from then on, reality started to creep in; whether he liked it or not, he was now a top ambassador for his sport, which is potentially in the Olympics.
“I hope they liked what they saw,” Schlopy said. “We’re always out there having fun and we’re hoping for the best. If it made it to the Olympics, that’d be fun. I’d love to go to the Olympics.”
As he sat on the porch outside the press room at Park City Mountain Resort, he waited. Waited for members of the press to bombard him with questions, stick cameras in his face and ask him what it means to him to be able to have such a special day and week.
“It’s like beyond words,” Beth Anne, said watching him during his interviews. “It’s so awesome to see my little brother do so well in the sport he’s been doing for so long and that he’s always loved.”
Schlopy joked with his mother and sister in between takes, asking if they would stop standing behind the cameras sporting such giant grins.
They couldn’t help it.
“It usually takes a while for this stuff to hit me,” Schlopy said. “I’m kind of speechless.”
Speechless is one thing, coated in gold is another.