Bob Burnquist clinches gold medal in Skateboard Big Air contest – X Games 17 Update
The X Games action continued during the second day of its 17th edition with the final of Skateboard Big Air contest at Lot 7 outside STAPLES Centre in Los Angeles on Friday, July 29.
Brazil’s Bob Burnquist stole the show with his exceptional performance during the final to collect his third gold medal in the discipline after a hiatus of three years. Adam Taylor of Florida, America, finished in second place to take home the silver medal,
while Edgard Pereira, another Brazilian, rounded out the podium to secure the bronze.
After finishing one place short of taking the top honours last year, the 34-year-old Burnquist came back this year to go all the way this time. The path to the top of the podium could not have been more challenging, with the likes of Taylor, Pereira, Rony
Gomes, Mitchie Brusco, Jake Brown, Elliot Sloan and Rob Lorifice in the final’s line-up.
However, the legendary Brazilian rider proved that he still had what it took to make it to the top even at an age of 40. After scoring 92.33 in his second run, Burnquist managed to best his own score in the fourth run, earning a score of 92.66, which eventually
carried him off to victory. His winning-run included a switch front-side 540 over a gap followed by a front-side grab 540 on the quarter-pipe.
Commenting on his winning run after the final, Burnquist said, “I thought, I'll keep doing it until I make it because I already had gotten a run in. And then I made it [the switch stale 5] but then I popped way too high and way too hard on the lien rodeo.
I could have slammed but it worked and my dream run was done.”
The 21-year-old Taylor came up with the third most impressive run of the final, the top-two runs belonging to Burnquist. The Florida-based rider scored 89.66 in his second run and settled for runner-up place after failing to improve on his second-run score.
The 29-year-old Pereira earned his top score of 87.00 from his third run to clinch the last remaining spot on the podium and add an X Games medal to resume.
Gomez and Brusco finished in fourth and fifth place respectively, while two-time defending gold medalist, Brown failed to complete any of his five runs and ended up in sixth place. Sloan and Lorifice rounded out the remaining two positions.
Once again, the American action sports athletes saw themselves getting overshadowed by the international athletes. Even though Taylor kept the silver at home, the fact that the rest of the podium was crowded by two Brazilians sent out a warning signal to
the Americans.
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