X Games

Christian Hosoi On Top Again

Los Angeles, Calif. – The legends of skateboarding dropped in for their contest runs today in front of a VIP viewing box packed with cheering pro skaters who were barely walking when they were busy dominating the skateboard scene.

Skateboard Park Legends contest, which ran solely as an exhibition jam session at X Games 14, became a medaled event this year. The chance for gold and glory stepped the excitement level up, with the old-school pros showing themselves to be every bit as competitive now that they’re over 40 as they were when they were under 20.

1980s vert dominator Christian Hosoi, who regularly used to compete against Tony Hawk, and Planet Earth founder Chris Miller shined in the finals today, one-upping each other with stylish old school and new school tricks. Hosoi took the title in the end, going huge on his transfers and getting almost upside down in the cradle, to the delight of his many longtime fans.

“I can’t tell you how good it feels to be here,” said Hosoi of his win. “I’m alive. I’m on my skateboard at the X Games. I feel like I’m 18 again.”

Lance Mountain skated his way into bronze, grinning while he pulled stalled-out inverted handplants in the deep-end pool section.

“We built this sport on concrete,” said Mountain, when asked about the concrete pool built for the X Games Park competitions. “When I was first asked to come and skate ramps here, I told them I would wait for concrete. And here it is. This park was amazing.

Glifberg Rules the Skateboard Park Two Years In A Row

Los Angeles, Calif. – He’s one of only three athletes to have competed in every X Games since its inception. He holds nine X Games medals, but until his win in the Skateboard Park competition last year, none of them were gold. If today’s performance was any indication, Rune Glifberg’s X Games bridesmaid curse is over.

Glifberg qualified first in the Skateboard Park Elimination on Saturday, and came into the finals on fire, skating with fluid style at breakneck speeds. The competition going into the final round was fierce. Bronze medalist Chad Bartie wowed the judges with aggressive, creative lines throughout the part skatelite, part concrete skate park that Glifberg helped design.

Last year’s silver medalist, Andy Macdonald elicited cheers with his big 360 transfers and backflips over the hip, but was unable to score high enough to move out of second place.

In the end Glifberg, with his huge transfers and graceful backside tailslides over—and inverted whips through—the cradle, could not be stopped.

“I like the format of this year’s contest. It makes us work hard and strategize more,” said Glifberg, who switched up every one of his 30-second runs in the 15-minute jam session final.

“Yeah, that was fun,” he added, with a smile. “I may have to try for the three-peat next year.”

Skateboard Park Legends Final Results

Final results from the Skateboard Park Legends competition held at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on August 2, 2009.

               
       Name/Rank            Hometown               
1.    Christian Hosoi        Huntington Beach, Calif.
2.    Chris Miller              Del Mar, Calif.
3.    Lance Mountain        Alhambra, Calif.
4.    Steve Caballero        Campbell, Calif.
5.    Tony Magnusson       Del Mar, Calif.
6.    Lester Kasai             Anaheim, Calif.
7.    Pat Ngoho                Culver City, Calif.
8.    Steve Steadham       San Diego, Calif.
9.    Steve Alba               Badlands, Calif.
10.  Duane Peters           Costa Mesa, Calif.

Skateboard Park Final Results

Final results from the Skateboard Park competition held at The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on August 2, 2009.

       Name/Rank            Hometown                   
1.    Rune Glifberg          Copenhagen, Denmark
2.    Andy Macdonald      San Diego, Calif.
3.    Chad Bartie             Queensland, Australia
4.    Omar Hassan          Costa Mesa, Calif.
5.    Tony Trujillo            San Francisco, Calif.
6.    Kevin Kowalski        Seal Rock, Ore.
7.    Aaron Homoki         Phoenix, Ariz.
8.    Jimmy Marcus         Clearwater, Fla.
9.    Steve Reeves          Portland, Ore.
10.  Bruno Passos          Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

BMX Freestyle Vert Final Results

Final results from the BMX Freestyle Vert competition held at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on August 1, 2009.
               
       Name/Rank            Hometown               
1.    Jamie Bestwick       State College, Pa.
2.    Simon Tabron         Liverpool, Britain
3.    Chad Kagy             Gilroy, Calif.
4.    Jimmy Walker        Ocala, Fla.
5.    Dennis McCoy        Kansas City, Mo.
6.    Coco Zurita            Santiago, Chile
7.    Tim Wood              Brisbane, Australia
8.    Jay Eggleston         Denver, Colo.
9.    Kevin Robinson       East Providence, R.I.
10.  Zack Warden          St. Louis, Mo.

 

Three-Peat

Jamie Bestwick Wins Seventh X Games BMX Freestyle Vert Gold

Los Angeles, Calif. – Jamie Bestwick’s first two runs in the final were so flawless they earned him 49 out of a perfect 50 possible points. He went down in his third run—hanging up on the coping of his re-entry into the vert ramp after a lofty 540 tailwhip—walked off the ramp uninjured, but didn’t return to the competition. Fortunately, since the top two best runs in the jam session were what counted, his were enough to earn the 2006 and 2007 BMX Vert gold medal winner his third gold in a row.

“I saw the way Jamie rode, and I hate to say it, I knew we were competing for second place,” said silver medalist Simon Tabron. “He put down possibly the two best runs I’ve ever seen him do. And really from that point unless Moses appeared next to the ramp and parted the Red Sea or some other kind of crazy miracle, we were competing for second place tonight.”

Tabron, who was the first person to land back-to-back 900s in competition in 2007s X Games, also took home his seventh X Games BMX Vert medal tonight. He didn’t try the back-to-back, but threw a one-foot, one-handed 900 into his run, which had never been done in competition. The groundbreaking move was enough to get him into second place.

Chad Kagy, who took home silver in the BMX Big Air on Friday night, wowed the crowd with moves like a flat spin 540 tailwhip to opposite tailwhip flare. His bronze in tonight’s competition brings his total X Games medal tally to 11.

Skateboard Vert Men’s Final Results

Final results from the Skateboard Vert Men’s competition held at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on August 1, 2009.

               
       Name/Rank               Hometown               
1.    Pierre-Luc Gagnon     Carlsbad, Calif.
2.    Bucky Lasek              Baltimore, Md.
3.    Andy Macdonald        San Diego, Calif.
4.    Danny Mayer            Omaha, Neb.
5.    Alex Perelson            San Digeo, Calif.
6.    Bob Burnquist           Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
7.    Rune Glifberg           Copenhagen, Denmark
8.    Sandro Dias             Santo Andre, Brazil
9.    Rob Lorifice              Encinitas, Calif.
10.  Adam Taylor             Coco Beach, Fla.
 

PLG Ties Lasek For Most Skateboard Vert Golds

Los Angeles, Calif. – Pierre-Luc Gagnon defended his X Games gold medal tonight in a fight to the finish with four-time Skateboard Vert gold medalist Bucky Lasek. His victory over last year’s silver medal winner means he is now tied with Lasek for the most gold medals in X Games Skateboard Vert.

Gagnon dominated the competition early on, throwing best-trick contest winning moves in the first round. He fell on his first two of five runs in the finals, and momentarily opened up the door for Lasek, who then set off the match by dropping into the ramp switch and executing a string of difficult tricks like the McEgg.

PLG rose to the occasion, throwing multiple 720 melons and nollie flips into his final runs to regain the lead.

“I was so inspired by P-Rod’s comback in Street today,” said Gagnon. “I watched him and thought, ‘I could do that.’ I was also so hyped on the design of the gold medal. I was like, ‘I gotta get me one of those!’”

Because Andy Macdonald qualified for the finals in fifth place he was slotted last in the running order in the finals and was only able to complete four 30-second runs in the fast-paced 12-minute jam session. The other four skaters got in five runs, but it didn’t stop Macdonald from beating out Danny Mayer and Alex Perelson for the bronze.

Macdonald has skated in every single X Games since it started in 1995. Tonight’s bronze medal brings his total X Games medal count to 18.
 

Skateboard Park Men’s Elimination Results

Elimination results from the Skateboard Park Men’s competition held at The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on August 1, 2009.

       Name/Rank              Hometown              
1.    Rune Glifberg            Copenhagen, Denmark
2.    Omar Hassan            Costa Mesa, Calif.
3.    Andy Macdonald        San Diego, Calif.
4.    Chad Bartie              Queensland, Australia
5.    Tony Trujillo              San Francisco, Calif.
6.    Kevin Kowalski          Seal Rock, Ore.
7.    Steve Reeves            Portland, Ore.
8.    Bruno Passos            Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
9.    Aaron Homoki           Phoenix, Ariz.
10.  Jimmy Marcus           Clearwater, Fla.
11.  Ben Raybourn            Houston, Texas
12.  Daniel Cardone          Bologna, Italy
13.  Kyle Berard               Berard, Va.
14.  Joshua Borden          Orange, Calif.
15.  John Rattray             Aberdeen, Scotland
16.  Alex Chalmers           Vancouver, Canada
17.  Mike Peterson            Jacksonville, Fla.
18.  Bucky Lasek              Baltimore, Md.
19.  Brian Patch               Bloomington, Ind.
20.  Sergie Ventura          Virginia Beach, Va.

(Top 10 advance to the Finals on Sunday, August 2nd at 12:30 p.m. PST)

P-Rod Reclaims His X Games Skateboard Street Title

Los Angeles, Calif. – Paul Rodriguez finally got the monkey off his back. After becoming the first skateboarder ever to win back-to-back gold in the X Games Skateboarding Street contest in 2005, P-Rod failed to podium for the following two years and was held to second place last year by X Games 14 gold medal winner, Ryan Sheckler. All that changed today, with his commanding win in the Skateboard Street Finals.

In the Skateboarding Street competition, each skater gets 10 attempts per session to land tricks on a specific set of street features. The top three scores from each session get added to their overall score. Rodriguez unleashed a flurry of switch tricks early on that earned him top scores, and had him leading the pack going into the third session. Unfortunately, the final set of street features, consisting of two steep banks and a 12-step staircase, seemed to cause problems for nearly all the competitors, including P-Rod.

Going into the final attempts of the third session, Rodriguez had failed to land more than two solid tricks. Fourteen-year-old Nyjah Huston pulled a kickflip back lipslide on the rail on his ninth attempt, putting him into the lead, but in the final moments he nailed a switch heelflip down the stairs, that propelled him into first and the gold.

“It’s like an itch that finally got scratched. It’s been four years [since I won Gold],” Rodriguez said, adding with a nod towards second place finisher Huston, “It’s good to know that I can still hang with these youngsters.”

Adam Dyet, who skated and crashed equally as hard throughout the contest, was in fourth going into his last run, but a nollie full cab down the stair set earned him high scores, pushing Rodolfo Ramos out of medal contention just as the session came to a close.

Sheckler, whose first place standing from last year prequalified him for the finals today, skated the contest with an injured back. After multiple falls in the first session, he seemed to be warming up going into the second session, landing a switch heelflip and a nollie heelflip backside 180 down the three-flat-four staircase. A bail on the 8th of his 10 allotted trick attempts left him visibly shaken, and a hard fall on his last attempt caused him to roll his ankle. He did not move on to the third session.

Skateboard Street Men’s Final Results

Final standings from the Skateboard Street Men’s competition held at The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on August 1, 2009.


       Name/Rank            Hometown                      Score   
1.    Paul Rodriguez        Northridge, Calif.             390.00
2.    Nyjah Huston         Huntington Beach, Calif.    364.00
3.    Adam Dyet             Salt Lake City, Utah          349.00
4.    Rodolfo Ramos        Florianopolis, Brazil          348.00
5.    Nick Dompierre       New Bedford, Mass.         310.00
6.    Ryan Sheckler         San Clemente, Calif.        221.00
 

Cranmer Takes Second X Games Gold

Los Angeles, Calif. – The X Games 15 BMX Freestyle Park Finals came down to a battle for first, between last year’s silver medalist Diogo Canina and four-time BMX park medalist Scotty Cranmer.

Diogo Canina came out of the first round hot, pulling no handed flips and 360 flips in huge, near flawless runs that put him over 10 points ahead on the scoreboard in his heat. Scotty Cranmer and last year’s gold medal winner, Daniel Dhers, spent the second heat essentially tied in the standings, until Cranmer’s final run bumped him up into first position going into the finals.

Cranmer, 2006 gold medalist who earned silver in 2007 and 2005, and Canina spent the finals trading places on the scoreboard. Canina charged the course and looked to be the winner, but Cranmer pulled a double tailwhip backflip up the step up on his final run, with only seconds left in the competition, putting him one point ahead of Canina, into the gold medal position.

“Scotty’s a machine,” said Canina of his competition. “Of course I wanted gold—growing up you always dream of winning it all—but this is still an amazing feeling.”

“We’ve all been riding with each other for a long time,” added Cranmer. “I don’t think we’ve ever been in a final that was that close. It was crazy!”

Gary Young, who qualified first in yesterday’s BMX Freestyle Park Elimination competition tied with Dhers for fifth place in the second heat. With only the top five riders from the first two heats advancing to the final round, the tiebreaking factor came down to which rider had earned the highest overall score in a single run. Young had it, leaving Dhers empty handed while Young advanced to the finals, and then went on to edge out Corey Bohan and Ryan Guettler for the Bronze.

Final Standings from the BMX Freestyle Park competition held at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on August 1, 2009.

               
       Name/Rank            Hometown               
1.    Scotty Cranmer       Jackson, N.J.
2.    Diogo Canina          Amparo, Brazil
3.    Gary Young             San Diego, Calif.
4.    Ryan Guettler          Beenleigh, Australia
5.    Corey Bohan           Brisbane, Australia
6.    Daniel Dhers           Caracas, Venezuela
7.    Rob Darden             Greenville, N.C.
8.    Jeremiah Smith        Cincinnati, Ohio
9.    Dennis Enarson        San Diego, Calif.
10.  Chase Hawk             Austin, Texas

Moto X Super X Adaptive Final Results

Final Standings from the Moto X Super X Adaptive competition held at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on July 31, 2009.

               
       Name/Rank              Hometown                       Score       
1.    Chris Ridgway           Cypress, Calif.                 314.69
2.    Mike Schultz             Pillager, Minn.                  324.38
3.    Jason Woods            Highlands, N.C.                331.50
4.    Jim Wazny               Merrill, Mich.                    344.80
5.    Ricky James             Murrieta, Calif.                 345.37
6.    Samuel Erasmus       Stilfontein, South Africa    346.40
7.    Theodore Hiracheta   Carlisle, Iowa                  347.29
8.    Jesse Gildea             Osceola, Iowa                  372.06
9.    Nick Pappas              Livermore, Calif.              576.15
10.  George Hammel        Tucson, Ariz.                   580.45
11.  Ranel Cox                 Tucson, Ariz.                   591.57
12.  Shane Tacker            Bono, Ariz.                      617.96

World’s Best Amateur Vert Skaters Wow Crowd

Los Angeles, Calif. – Ten of the world’s top amateur vert skaters competed for X Games Gold today in an exciting, fast-paced competition full of 540s, flip tricks, and multiple 900 attempts.

Sam Beckett, last year’s silver medal winner in the X Games Skateboard Vert Am competition, tried his best to take the title, but suffered from a heavy slam in the finals, which allowed 14-year-old Sam Bosworth to edge him out for the win.

“This place is insane! I can’t even speak,” exclaimed gold medalist Bosworth, who travelled to the competition from Cornwall, Britain. “Where I come from it rains every day, so getting used to the heat here was really hard. I didn’t think I could win, but I did my best. It feels amazing!”

Pedro Barros, 14, from Brazil skated strong all day, earning himself the bronze.


Coverage of all X Games events can be found on www.xgames.com. For media information, including press releases, logos, and images from past events, log on to www.espneventmedia.com. 

ABOUT ESPN’s X GAMES FRANCHISE
ESPN, The Worldwide Leader in Action Sports, first developed its X Games franchise in 1995. Part of ESPN Original Entertainment, X Games, Winter X Games and All Access are just some of the original action sports programming currently shown on ESPN and ESPN2. In addition to the two U.S.-based events, ESPN has held X Games competitions and demonstration events around the world including Dubai, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, Malaysia, China and Spain.  The global franchise has also expanded its reach to EXPN.com, the definitive site for action sports fans, and to consumer products such as X Games bikes, protective gear, skateboards and DVDs.

Second Gold For Adaptive Moto X Rider Chris Ridgway

Los Angeles, Calif. – Chad Ridgway jumped off the line, quickly worked his way into the front spot and didn’t let up once during the five-lap heat in tonight’s Moto X Super X Adaptive competition. Former Winter X Snocross competitor Mike Schultz was hot on his heels the entire race, but couldn’t overtake last year’s gold medal winner.

“I didn’t get a good start,” said Ridgway. “I had to muscle my way up to the front, and then be patient. I didn’t want to hit any big jumps until I saw what Mike was doing.”

Along with back-to-back X Games gold wins, Ridgway has won the Extremity Games the last three years in a row. Before losing his left leg below the knee in 2002 from a crash he suffered in 1995, Ridgway raced professional motocross for ten years.

“I get treated better at this race than anywhere else in the world,” said Ridgway about the X Games. “This race was more exciting than last year because I’ve been training all year long, and really had to fight for it. I felt like this was my race, though. And I’m so honored to win this against Mike. We always compete against each other. He better watch out next year.”

Jason Woods, from Highland, North Carolina came in third.


Coverage of all X Games events can be found on www.xgames.com. For media information, including press releases, logos, and images from past events, log on to www.espneventmedia.com. 

ABOUT ESPN’s X GAMES FRANCHISE
ESPN, The Worldwide Leader in Action Sports, first developed its X Games franchise in 1995. Part of ESPN Original Entertainment, X Games, Winter X Games and All Access are just some of the original action sports programming currently shown on ESPN and ESPN2. In addition to the two U.S.-based events, ESPN has held X Games competitions and demonstration events around the world including Dubai, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, Malaysia, China and Spain.  The global franchise has also expanded its reach to EXPN.com, the definitive site for action sports fans, and to consumer products such as X Games bikes, protective gear, skateboards and DVDs.

Skateboard Vert Am Final Results

Final Results from the Skateboard Vert Am competition held at The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on July 31, 2009.


       Name/Rank            Hometown                   Score   
1.    Sam Bosworth        Cornwall, Britain            85.00
2.    Sam Beckett           Norwich, Britain            76.00
3.    Pedro Barros           Florianopolis, Brazil       73.00
4.    Ronaldo Gomes       Sao Paulo, Brazil           69.00
5.    Italio Penarrubia      Sao Paulo, Brazil           61.00
 

Garrett Reynolds Wins Second BMX Street Gold

Los Angeles, Calif. – For the first two sessions of the three session BMX Freestyle Street competition, it looked like last year’s silver medalist, Van Homan, might unseat X Games BMX Freestyle Street champion Garrett Reynolds. In the end, Reynolds—who dominated nearly every X Games Street competition last year, winning three gold medals and one silver in the four international X Games competitions held in 2008, along with his gold from X Games 14—proved to be unstoppable.

A flawless manual down the 12-stair handrail earned Homan a perfect score of 50 in an early run, which Reynolds answered in his trademark style, throwing two barspins into his 360 down the stair set, as well as his signature trick: a tucked no-hander to icepick (a grind on the back peg only). The trick tradeoff continued as the two came out of the first session tied for first, and rode out of the second session separated by only one point.

A foot injury sustained during practice on Tuesday slowed Homan down in the third session, which allowed Reynolds to pull himself into a commanding lead while X Games rookie Ty Morrow—who’d been trailing in a close third place position throughout the competition—came from behind to snag the silver. 

“I was so nervous to ride with these guys,” said Ty Morrow, an underground sensation from Florida who rarely enters competitions and has never competed in the X Games. “This was a great contest, though, and I’m so excited about the way it turned out.”

“I’m just psyched,” said Reynolds of his win. “It’s awesome to be on the podium with two incredible riders like Ty and Van. I had a great time.”
 

BMX Freestyle Street Final Results

Final Standings from the BMX Freestyle Street competition held at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on July 31, 2009.

               
       Name/Rank            Hometown                    Score       
1.    Garrett Reynolds     Toms River, N.J.             419.00
2.    Ty Morrow              West Palm Beach, Fla.    412.00
3.    Van Homan             Pennsville, N.J.             403.00
4.    Nathan Williams      Nashville, Tenn.            395.00
5.    Brian Kachinsky      Chicago, Ill.                  387.00
6.    Corey Martinez       Decatur, Ala.                 379.00
 

Skateboard Street Men’s Elimination Results

Elimination results from the Skateboard Street Men’s competition held at The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on July 31, 2009.



       Name/Rank            Hometown                       Score   
1.    Nick Dompierre       New Bedford, Mass.          255.00
2.    Paul Rodriguez        Northridge, Calif.               239.00
3.    Nyjah Huston          Huntington Beach, Calif.    234.00
4.    Rodolfo Ramos        Florianopolis, Brazil           225.00
5.    Adam Dyet             Salt Lake City, Utah           225.00
6.    Chaz Ortiz              Chicago, Ill.                      211.00
7.    Chris Cole              Philadelphia, Pa.                207.00
8.    Sierra Fellers          Whitefish, Mont.                185.00
9.    Johnny Layton        Long Beach, Calif.              184.00
10.  Nick Trapasso         Phoenix, Ariz.                   181.00
11.  Terry Kennedy        Long Beach, Calif.             151.00
12.  Eric Koston            Los Angeles, Calif.             139.00
13.  Greg Lutzka           Los Angeles, Calif.             134.00
14.  Billy Marks             Corona, Calif.                    132.00
15.  Tommy Sandoval    Chula Vista, Calif.              80.00

(Top 5 advance to the Finals on Saturday, August 1st at 2 p.m. PST)

Skateboard Women’s Street Final Results

Final Results from the Skateboard Women’s Street Final competition held at The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on July 30, 2009.



    Name/Rank            Hometown                Score   
Marisa Dal Santo        Chicago, Ill.                      374.00
Alexis Sablone        Brooklyn, N.Y.                  353.00
Elissa Steamer        San Francisco, Calif    .              350.00   
Lacey Baker            Covina, Calif.                      323.00
Vanessa Torres        Silver Lake, Calif.                  281.00
Leticia Bufoni        Sao Paulo, Brazil                  278.00
Amy Caron            Huntington Beach, Calif.              261.00   
Evie Bouilliart        Huntington Beach, Calif.              252.00
Abisha Alshebaiki        Temecula, Calif.                  196.00
 Tamara Drybrough        Port Coquitlam, Canada              124.00

Marisa Dal Santo Reclaims Gold

2007 and 2008 Gold Medal Winners Dal Santo and Steamer Battle For Queen of Women’s Street Skateboarding Crown

Los Angeles, Calif. – First place in the X Games Skateboarding Street Women’s finals was anybody’s guess today, while skaters Elissa Steamer, Marisa Dal Santo, Lacey Baker and Alexis Sablone traded spots on the leader board after almost every run.

Going into the final round, it looked like Dal Santo, the 2007 gold medalist, might not make the podium. Then she nailed a frontside boardslide down the 12-stair rail to bring her into third place, followed by a frontside lipslide down the rail, to vault her into first.

Last year’s gold medalist, skate legend, and crowd favorite, Elissa Steamer, skated ferociously, but was overpowered by first time X Games competitor Alexis Sablone, who knocked Steamer into third with her equally powerful skateboarding.

Sablone is making a triumphant comeback to the world of skateboarding after disappearing from the scene for a few years to focus on college. She brought the crowd of X Games spectators in the stands and male skateboarding peers lounging on the street course to a roar by landing a kickflip down the 12-stair, followed by a 50-50 down the 12-stair rail.

“I don’t worry about beating Elissa,” said Dal Santo, when asked about how hard it was to defeat the four-time gold medalist who forced Dal Santo to take silver in 2008. “She’s my friend. I like skating with her. We just come out here and do our thing, and today it just worked out for me.”




Coverage of all X Games events can be found on www.xgames.com. For media information, including press releases, logos, and images from past events, log on to www.espneventmedia.com. 

ABOUT ESPN’s X GAMES FRANCHISE
ESPN, The Worldwide Leader in Action Sports, first developed its X Games franchise in 1995. Part of ESPN Original Entertainment, X Games, Winter X Games and All Access are just some of the original action sports programming currently shown on ESPN and ESPN2. In addition to the two U.S.-based events, ESPN has held X Games competitions and demonstration events around the world including Dubai, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, Malaysia, China and Spain. The global franchise has also expanded its reach to EXPN.com, the definitive site for action sports fans, and to consumer products such as X Games bikes, protective gear, skateboards and DVDs.

Skateboard Vert Women’s Final Results

Final standings from the Skateboard Vert Women’s competition held at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on July 30, 2009.


    Name/Rank                 Hometown                   
1.    Lynz Adams Hawkins    Cardiff by the Sea, Calif.   
2.    Karen Jonz                  Santo Andre, Brazil           
3.    Gaby Ponce                 Tenafly, N.J.   
4.    Cara-Beth Burnside      Encinitas, Calif.           
5.    Julie Kindstrand           Santa Ana, Calif.
6.    Mimi Knoop                 Chesapeake, Va.                    
7.    Allysha Bergado           El Segundo, Calif.           
8.    Elise Dabby                 Del Mar, Calif.
   

Kickflip Indy Dominates Women’s Skateboard Vert

Los Angeles, Calif. – Just a few short years ago, no one had ever pulled a kickflip indy in a women’s vert competition. Today, three of the eight competitors in the X Games Skateboard Vert Women’s competition added the trick into fluid runs, which resulted in podium spots for each of them. 

Last year’s gold medalist, Karen Jonz, skated strong today, stomping not only the kickflip indy, but a solid stalefish and a finger flip indy. In the end, however, the judges awarded gold to last year’s silver medalist, Lynz Adams Hawkins, for her multiple McTwist attempts, and her commitment to setting the bar higher for women’s vert.

Lynz, who has been getting coaching from Tony Hawk for the McTwist, has yet to land the trick in a contest, but so far she is the only female skateboarder attempting to try them.

“I honestly thought I was going to get third,” said Lynz of her win. “30 minutes for a jam session is technically a long time, but the competition went really quick because it was just go go go the whole time. I didn’t even get as many runs as I thought I would.”

Bronze medalist Gaby Ponce, a high school student from New Jersey competing in her second X Games, impressed the crowd with huge airs and a stylish gay twist. “This was the best contest I’ve ever been in,” she said.

“We’re all really pushing each other right now,” added Lynz. “I’m not even going to be able to snowboard this winter, because I’m going to have to skateboard all year round so I can practice and stick even more tricks next year at X Games’ sweet sixteen.

Coverage of all X Games events can be found on www.xgames.com. For media information, including press releases, logos, and images from past events, log on to www.espneventmedia.com. 

ABOUT ESPN’s X GAMES FRANCHISE
ESPN, The Worldwide Leader in Action Sports, first developed its X Games franchise in 1995. Part of ESPN Original Entertainment, X Games, Winter X Games and All Access are just some of the original action sports programming currently shown on ESPN and ESPN2. In addition to the two U.S.-based events, ESPN has held X Games competitions and demonstration events around the world including Dubai, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, Malaysia, China and Spain.  The global franchise has also expanded its reach to EXPN.com, the definitive site for action sports fans, and to consumer products such as X Games bikes, protective gear, skateboards and DVDs.

LOS ANGELES- There was no holding back from the competitors in tonight’s

LOS ANGELES- There was no holding back from the competitors in tonight’s

Information on all X Games events can be found on www.expn.com for fans

Los Angeles - X Games 14 kicked off this afternoon as two of New Jersey’s

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