This time it was snowboarding sensation-turned skateboarding star Shaun White that was attempting to make history – by besting Hawk by a half spin for the unheard of 1080.
White came close on numerous occasions, but it was the inventiveness of Bob Burnquist (Rio de Janiero, Brazil) that turned out to be the golden ticket on this night. Burnquist won for his Frontside 540 Nar-Jar but also hit a Blunt to Fakie that could easily have done the trick too. It was his 10th career medal – he’s just the sixth to reach that milestone – and his first gold since winning Vert Doubles in 2003.
“It could have gone either way,” said Burnquist of his main competition, Colin McKay. “I know how hard his trick is.”
McKay (Vancouver, BC, Canada) earned his third silver medal in four X Games Best Trick competitions with a Switch Big Flip over the channel that could have easily taken gold.
“That kind of session is what we normally do,” said McKay. “We care about doing new tricks. I’ve done that trick once before and I went out there to try the hardest trick I could do.”
Pierre-Luc Gagnon (Carlsbad, Calif.) picked up his second medal of these X Games as his Nollie Heel Flip 540 across channel helped him grab the bronze medal.
“I did what I was trying to do and I didn’t want to take time from the other guys when I did what I was trying to do,” Gagnon said of pulling back and letting the others go for their tricks.
ESPN X Games is the definitive annual action sports competition featuring more than 150 of the world’s best athletes competing in: BMX Freestyle, Moto X, Skateboard, Surfing and Wakeboard. X Games 11 is being held August 4-7 in Los Angeles and airing live on ESPN, ABC and ESPN Deportes. Its venues include STAPLES Center, The Home Depot Center (Carson, Calif.), Long Beach Marine Stadium for Wakeboard and Puerto Escondido, Mexico for Surfing. All competitions at STAPLES Center and The Home Depot Center are ticketed events, which can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com. X Games will remain in Los Angeles through 2009.
