Kia X Games in Asia
Thursday, May 5th, 2011May 3rd, 2011
Fans in Shanghai were treated to a feast of world-class action, as Zack Warden and Pierre-Luc Gagnon took home gold medals.
Skateboard Mini Mega
The final round of the Skateboard Mini Mega Final featured a who’s who list of multiple X Games gold medallists such as Jake Brown from Australia, Andy Macdonald from the USA and Brazilians Sandro Dias and skateboard legend Bob Burnquist. However, it was Pierre-Luc Gagnon who stood head above shoulders and successfully defended his title by the smallest of margins, scoring 95.00 points in the very last jump of the competition to beat Burnquist’s score of 94.00.
It was an afternoon of late comebacks for Gagnon, who executed a backside flip over the gap into a melon 720 in the dying seconds of the first heat to jump to the top of his group. And after a tight see-saw battle between the two decorated athletes at the end of the final round, the Canadian outdid Burnquist in the final ticks of the clock with a Big Flip Mute Grab over the gap and finishing strong with a Fakie 720, that saw the crowd erupt having seen such thrilling roller-coaster climax.
“Walking up those steps right before my last run was the most difficult thing ever,” said Gagnon. “I knew the contest was on the line, and I had to try something different, something that was me. The thing is, I’ve been trying the whole week, and the combination of the Big Flip Mute Grab and Fakie 720 just hadn’t been coming off the whole time. It was really awesome how close this contest was with the lead changing so many times, but that just makes the victory sweeter.”
BMX Mini- MegaRampTM Final
American Zack Warden upstaged favourite BMX legend Chad Kagy and defending champion Vince Bryon to win the gold in the BMX mini-MegaRampTM Finals.
Several riders battled challenging conditions at the event, including Kagy, who was also hampered by a painful left hand having recently undergone surgery. With the rest of the field were still adjusting to both the conditions and the mini-MegaRampTM, Austin Coleman showed the way forward, pulling off a string of one-handed tail whips and 720 spins that elicited loud cheers from the audience.
But it was not long before Vince Byron, who had won the BMX Vert on Saturday, decided to step up his game as well, and the Australian nailed a Backflip-Double Tailwhip over the gap, followed by a Quarterpipe-540 no-handed Bar Spin on his fourth run to pull ahead of the competition.
Warden, who had already crashed hard twice in his previous runs, executed a Backflip-Bikeflip and raised the bar by completing a high-flying Triple whip to finish with a score of 91.00, leaving Byron with the silver (89.00) and Kagy with the bronze (82.00).
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