2011 KIA X Games Asia: Pierre-Luc Gagnon successfully defends his Skateboarding Mini Mega title
The 2011 KIA X Games (KXG) Asia Skateboard Mini Mega final went down on Sunday, May 1st, at the Jiangwan Stadium in Shanghai, China. After what turned out to be a real nail-biter, it was Canada’s Pierre-Luc Gagnon, more commonly known as PLG,
who managed to clinch the gold medal for the second consecutive time. Brazil’s Bob Burnquist took home the silver medal while America’s Adam Taylor rounded out the podium after finishing in third place and securing the bronze.
The crowd at the Jiangwan Stadium expected nothing but extreme entertainment and exciting sporting action in a final showdown between three extremely talented and skillful skateboarders. Rather than living up to the expectations, it actually exceeded them.
Throughout the contest, the crowd remained at the edge of their seat, unable to place their bet on any of the three riders as they all threw down determined runs. The contest truly epitomized the expression “it’s not over till it’s over”.
PLG entered the contest as a favourite to win and he lived up to the expectations. However, it was definitely not smooth sailing for him as the rest of the field put up a determined fight. Even though the lead kept on shifting from one rider to another in
the final, the 31-year-old managed to clinch the lead at the end through his final run, which also happened to be the decisive one. His Big Flip Mute Grab, while going into the Vert and following it with a Fake 720, got him glory as he ended up with a whopping
95 to seal the fate of the contest.
“It was really awesome how close this contest was, with the lead changing so many times, but that just makes the victory sweeter”, said an overjoyed PLG.
Before the Canadian got hold of the lead, it was Burnquist who was sailing towards victory. Ending up with a painful right elbow after his first run, the Brazilian crashed down on the same elbow during the next run to further increase the pain. He left the
crowd awe-struck as he still managed to get up and climb back on his board for another run.
Burnquist’s resilience and perseverance made him the crowd’s favourite. His perseverance paid off as he pulled off a front-side-no-handed spin to earn himself a score of 94. Even though the score of was enough to get him the lead from Taylor, it turned out
to be insufficient to keep PLG away from the gold. He did get to take home the silver medal for his efforts.
America’s Taylor threw down some amazing runs, which also included a reverse 320 spin that got him a lot of appreciation from the crowd. The hang-time of his moves was impressive. He earned a good score but the score did not hold in front of Burnquist’s
and PLG’s final runs. He eventually had to settle for a bronze medal.
PLG had gotten a double gold in skateboarding at last year’s KXG Asia, winning the Mini Mega and Vert. When questioned whether he will able to repeat the feat again, the 31-year-ago confidently replied that he can. He continued, “Definitely. This was the
harder of the two competitions, compared to the Vert, which I'm more familiar with. “
The Skateboarding Vert Final will be held on Monday, April 2nd.
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