Chalk up this one for the veteran Burnside (Encinitas, Calif.), whose rock-solid, clean and consistent run earned her a gold medal and forced Hawkins (Cardiff By The Sea, Calif.) to settle for the silver.
“I tried to skate well and put on a solid show,” said Burnside, a 26-year veteran, who was named Transworld Skateboarding’s Best Female Skateboarder of the Year in 2004. “The energy of the people was great.”
Hawkins tried to land a Kickflip Indie for most of the session and finally nailed the trick in the final 10 minutes. She also put down a 180 Tailgrab Kickflip Fakie.
Mimi Knoop (Encinitas, Calif.) finished third to bring home the bronze.
“The best part of the competition was that I was glad I got to try and land a few tricks and I was working on a Frontside Invert,” said Knoop.
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.
