X Games Aspen 2021 is due to begin at Buttermilk Mountain for the 20th successive year tomorrow, albeit behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic ©Getty Images

X Games Aspen 2021 is set to get underway in Colorado in the United States, with the action taking place behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Just under 100 top snow sports athletes from around the globe are due to compete across 14 disciplines over three days as the action returns to Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen for the 20th consecutive year.

X Games Aspen 2021 is set to feature men’s and women’s ski and snowboard competitions across the superpipe, slopestyle, big air and men’s knuckle huck disciplines.

It is also doubling as the first international North American snowboard and freeski event of the season.

A notable absentee from the event is Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris, who beat American Shaun White's Winter X Games medal record at Hafjell Resort in Norway in March 2020.

McMorris announced on Tuesday (January 26) that he had tested positive for coronavirus and would have to sit out this year's event.  

Action is due to take place on day one in five competitions – the Jeep women’s snowboard slopestyle, the women’s ski Big Air, the Wendy’s snowboard knuckle huck, the women’s ski superpipe and the men’s ski superpipe.

Pyeongchang 2018 Big Air gold medallist Anna Gasser of Austria is part of the eight strong start list for the women’s snowboard slopestyle, with Jamie Anderson of the United States, a gold medallist at both Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 in the women’s slopestyle among her rivals.

Eight women line up for the ski Big Air competition including Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud, silver medallist in the women’s slopestyle at Pyeongchang 2018 and gold medallist in the Big Air at the 2019 Winter X Games and Kelly Sildaru of Estonia, a five-time Winter X Games gold medallist in Aspen.

Anderson, a 15 time Winter X Games medallist at Aspen, is also part of the field for the Wendy’s snowboard knuckle huck where she faces seven rivals.

Sildaru, slopestyle gold medallist at the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, is also part of the field for the women’s ski superpipe.

In the men’s ski superpipe, the eight strong field is led by American Aaron Blunck, who won gold in this discipline at the 2017 Winter X Games in Aspen.

With fans absent from this year’s event due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisers are offering a virtual X Games experience online through the event’s website, featuring music, games and prizes.