Daniel Dhers walks away with second-consecutive BMX Park gold medal – X Games 17 Update
The final of BMX Park went down at the Event Deck at L.A Live in Los Angeles, America, on Saturday afternoon, July 30. After delivering top quality extreme sports action on previous two days, the third day promised to be just as exciting, something that
was soon confirmed with the first gold medal event of the day.
Defending event champion Daniel Dhers managed to survive a real nail-biting contest to clinch the gold medal for the second year in a row. After putting up a commendable fight, Dennis Enarson barely missed out on victory and eventually had to settle for
runner-up place, taking home the silver medal. Scotty Cranmer rounded out the podium, adding yet another X Games medal to his collection.
The 26-year-old Dhers had a tough task ahead of him in the finals as he looked to overcome a line-up consisting of extremely talented riders, which included the likes of Enarson, Cranmer, Chase Hawk and Gary Young.
The Venezuelan rider entered the final quite prepared with a strategy in his mind. After collecting a score of 40 from possible 50 from one of his initial runs, Dhers shocked everyone by deciding to skip his third run. The intention was to conserve energy
to go all out in the fourth run.
The strategy turned out quite fruitful, allowing the defending champion to collect a score of 41 and taking him to a combined total of 81. His runs featured corked 720s in the step down, Indian air tail-whips and alley-oops double tail-whip 270 transfers.
However, the fate of the contest was yet to be sealed.
Enarson, a 20 year-old from California, had also managed to collect a score of 40 and 41 from his two best runs to sit at a combined total similar to that of Dhers. This led to a tie-breaker, where the third best score of both the riders was to be taken
into account. Dhers’ third-best score was a 35, which left Enarson in need of a 36-point run to clinch victory.
The San Diego-based Enarson had a very good chance of getting the required score even with a relatively conservative run. However, he seemed to be unaware of the requirement and kept going for the more technical tricks. He eventually ended up crashing and
lost valuable points to finish with a score of 20, allowing the reigning champion to breathe a sigh of relief.
Talking about his final run during the post-final interview, an ecstatic Dhers said, “I knew that heat was going to be a big, big factor. I'm so stoked right now. When it came time for the last run, I thought to myself, 'I'm gonna try it,' and I'm glad it
worked. I feel like out of all the gold medals I've won, this one has a whole new meaning to me. It was hard, but I was really happy to get it working in the end.”
Despite his remarkable performances, Enarson missed out on the gold medal due to some carelessness on his part. However, taking home an X Games silver medal could not be considered a disappointment either and the joy on the Californian’s face was an affirmation
of this fact.
The 24-year-old Cranmer, BMX Park gold medallist in 2006 and 2009, had to settle for a bronze medal this year after finishing with a combined-total of 72 points. Hawk and Young rounded out the fourth and fifth positions respectively.
After managing to retain his throne for two consecutive years, Dhers would be hoping to go for a three-peat next year. However, after a real close call this year, it became clear that other riders are determined to dethrone the Venezuelan and take his place
on the top of the podium.
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