Bend’s Hunter Hess continued his breakout season with a bronze medal in the men’s ski superpipe Sunday at the X Games in Aspen, Colorado.

It was the first ever X Games medal for Hess, 25, who was born and raised in Bend.

Hess posted a score of 92 on his third-and-final run to edge three-time Olympic slopestyle medalist Nick Goepper for third place.

Alex Ferreira, whose hometown is Aspen, won the gold medal with a 95.33 on his third run. New Zealand’s Nico Porteous, the reigning Olympic champion in men’s ski halfpipe, claimed the silver medal with a 92.66 on his third run.

According to xgames.com, the superpipe is approximately 567 feet long and 66 feet wide, with 22-foot walls. Skiers link tricks from wall to wall, attempting to get the most amplitude and maintain flow between tricks. In the finals, each rider took three runs with their best score counting. Superpipe is judged on progression, execution, difficulty, variety and amplitude, according to xgames.com.

This past weekend marked Hess’s third appearance at the X Games. He was sixth in 2022 in ski superpipe and 11th in 2020.

Hess has 13 top-10 World Cup placings, including two from earlier this season. He was second in the halfpipe at the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colorado, on Dec. 15, and he took third in a World Cup halfpipe skiing event in Secret Garden, China, on Dec. 8.

Hess is a Summit High School graduate who honed his skills at Mt. Bachelor and competed for the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation. He is a member of the U.S. Freeski Pro Halfpipe Team, which is scheduled to compete in Mammoth Mountain, California, for another World Cup event, Jan. 31 through Feb. 4.

Hess started ski racing with MBSEF when he was about 6. But he never really liked it, as soccer was his true passion at the time.

When he was 9, a friend told him about the Enter the Dragon freestyle skiing and snowboarding contests at Bachelor. Hess decided to enter.

“I ended up doing a front flip or something and I had never flipped on my skis,” Hess said during a 2019 interview with The Bulletin. “I skipped the rest of the (terrain) park I was so excited about it. I ended up getting third place. I stopped playing soccer and joined the MBSEF freeride program.”

Medical setbacks prevented Hess from qualifying for the 2022 U.S. Olympic Team, but he could vie for a spot in the 2026 Winter Olympics, set for Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in two years.