— Willie Elam, X Games Aspen 2026
William "Willie" Elam is not your average action sports athlete. He's the 39-year-old from Twin Falls, Idaho who showed up at the most prestigious snowmobile competition on the planet — X Games Aspen — and walked away with a gold medal and a bronze medal in a single weekend, making him the oldest gold medalist in X Games Aspen history.
But the story didn't start in January 2026. It started decades earlier on the backcountry terrain of Southern Idaho, where a kid from Magic Valley learned to ride with the kind of precision and respect for the machine that only comes from growing up in the land itself.
Willie's career traces an arc familiar to the most durable athletes in action sports: he started as a racer, honed his craft across multiple disciplines, found his home in freestyle, and never stopped improving. Where other riders chase the biggest, most dangerous tricks, Willie built his reputation on something rarer — doing most of the tricks with complete consistency and surgical precision. "I don't have like a ton of the huge ones like a couple of the guys," he's said, "but I can do most of them. I always kind of kept it a little safer." That philosophy, counterintuitively, is what got him to the top.
The Road to Gold
Born in Twin Falls, Idaho
William 'Willie' Elam was born and raised in the Magic Valley of Southern Idaho, surrounded by the Snake River Canyon and the mountain ranges that would define his riding style for decades.
Racing Roots
Willie began his professional career on the national snocross circuit, racing for the legendary Blair Morgan Racing Team alongside future champions. The precision and aggression required for snocross racing laid the foundation for his later freestyle mastery.
Warnert Racing & Scheuring Speed Sports
Willie moved to Warnert Racing, one of the most prestigious teams in snowmobile racing, then spent time with Scheuring Speed Sports — a Polaris factory-backed powerhouse — before pivoting toward the freestyle discipline where his natural athleticism could fully express itself.
Freestyle Focus & Monster Energy
Recognizing that his true calling was freestyle, Willie dedicated himself to the aerial discipline. Monster Energy — the global leader in action sports athlete sponsorship — saw his potential and brought him onto the team. He quickly became known for his textbook-clean execution and remarkable consistency under pressure.
First X Games Medal 🥉
Willie earned his first X Games medal with a bronze in Snowmobile Speed & Style at X Games Aspen 2018. The achievement validated years of work and put him firmly on the world stage.
Second Medal — Freestyle 🥉
Back on the X Games podium with bronze in Snowmobile Freestyle at Aspen 2020, cementing his reputation as one of the most consistent performers on the circuit. Willie now had 2 X Games medals to his name.
GOLD. Historic. Legendary. 🥇
At 39 years old — the oldest competitor in the field — Willie Elam raced Brett Turcotte head-to-head in the Snowmobile Speed & Style final at X Games Aspen 2026. Racing at 48.1 seconds, Willie dominated from the jump and never looked back. Then, days earlier, he had already claimed bronze in Snowmobile Freestyle. Two medals, one weekend. First career gold. The oldest X Games Aspen gold medalist in history.
Precision Over
Spectacle
In a sport where riders constantly escalate toward bigger, higher-risk tricks, Willie Elam has built his entire career on a different philosophy: do everything with perfection. Clean landings. Repeatable execution. Zero compromise on form.
That philosophy comes from his Idaho roots — the backcountry doesn't forgive mistakes. When you're riding remote terrain in the Snake River range, there's no crash crew. You learn to make the right decision every single time.
It's also what makes him one of the most watchable riders in the sport. Every run is textbook-clean. Every landing is stuck. And at X Games Aspen 2026, it's exactly what took him to the top of the podium.
Twin Falls, Idaho
Twin Falls sits at the heart of the Magic Valley, where the Snake River has carved one of the most dramatic canyons in North America. It's a place defined by extremes — 650-foot canyon walls, frozen winters, and the kind of open terrain that breeds riders who learn to read the land before they trust their throttle.
The local snowmobile community at Adventure Motor Sports in Twin Falls knows Willie as one of their own — someone who shares what he knows, mentors the next generation, and hasn't forgotten where he came from despite the X Games gold. "Locals will remember forever what Willie did," said Jeremiah Higley, owner of Adventure Motor Sports.
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