South Lake Tahoe's Maddy Bowman and Squaw Valley's Nate Holland Take Gold in X Games

Less than two weeks before heading to Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Olympian Maddie Bowman from South Lake Tahoe won the Halfpipe Skiing Gold medal at the X Games in Aspen on Friday. Olympian Nate Holland from Squaw Valley took snowboardcross gold and David Wise from Reno won gold in the halfpipe skiing.

It was Bowman’s second-straight gold medal at X Games Aspen after wining last year, and she beat out Canadian Roz Groenewoud and France’s Marie Martinod, who took silver and bronze. Friday's medal was the third straight gold for Wise and Holland’s seventh X Games gold medal. Holland is coming off of a serious shoulder injury and had been sick with the flu the last couple of days.

"I think the biggest thing was just coming out here and having fun and just focusing on the skiing and having a good time. It’s awesome," said Bowman. "X Games is huge so I’m on top of the world right now. The biggest thing about this group of girls is that we’re just friends. We travel together, we ski together all the time and there’s such good camaraderie. I’m so excited to go to Russia with them and we’re going to have a great time."