ESPN on Wednesday night announced it was cutting boardercross and ski cross events from the Winter X Games, ending two of the longest running X Games event.

Next year’s X Games in Aspen will be the first in Winter X history without a cross course, which features massive jumps and berms where ski and snowboard gladiators race in groups of six. Boardercross debuted in the 2006 Winter Olympics and ski cross followed in Vancouver’s Winter Games in 2010.

Boardercross – called Snowboarder X by the X Games – is one of three events that have been a part of every Winter X Games since 1997. Ski cross – or Skier X – debuted a year later. ESPN is also cutting Mono X – featuring disabled athletes competing in sit skis – which debuted five years ago at Aspen’s Buttermilk ski area.

ESPN.com reported the news late Wednesday.

“These decisions are never easy, obviously,” said Tim Reed, the senior director of content strategy for ESPN X Games, in the ESPN web article. “We understand the ramifications these things bring. We come up with what we believe are the best events to showcase to our fans on-site and obviously the networks, too.

Reed’s statement noted there “wasn’t one single factor that led to this decision.”

“It just comes down to filling the schedule with how much we believe we need to make the event enjoyable to the fans and deliver on what we need from a product standpoint,” Reed said.

Also, two snowmobiling events that were dropped from the Winter X Games 2012 show, Speed and Style and SnoCross, which ran 14 consecutive games, are returning for 2013.

Boardercross and ski cross athletes learned of the news Tuesday.

ESPN.com quoted Nate Holland, the boardercross king who has won six of the last seven boardercross contests and led an American sweep of the Boarder X podium at the 2012 Winter X Games, saying the decision was “a devastating blow to our sport and skiercross, too.”

“X Games has been our Super Bowl for years,” he said.