Marisa Dal Santo emerges triumphant in Skateboard Street Women’s final – X Games 17 Update
X Games 17 continued to deliver a heavy dose of thrilling action with the Skateboard Street Women’s final at the Event Deck at L.A Live in Los Angeles on Friday, July 29.
After a thrilling contest, Illinois-based Marisa Dal Santo walked away with her third X Games gold medal. Defending champion Alexis Sablone, from New York, settled for runner-up finish this year to take home silver, while Brazil’s Leticia Bufoni finished
third to round out the podium and collect the bronze medal.
The Skateboard Street Women’s contest kicked off with the first and second heat of Round 1. The 24-year-old Sablone remained the top scorer in first heat, while Dal Santo stole the show in the second heat to comfortably make her way through to the finals.
Other skaters to advance to the finals included Bufoni, California’s Elissa Steamer and Brazil’s Jessica Florencio.
Ever since making a debut in X Games in 2005, Dal Santo has been making a solid impact in the discipline. After earning a gold medal in 2007 and 2009, she may have lost the gold to Sablone in 2010, but managed to reclaim the throne once again this year through
a remarkable performance.
Dal Santo had been unable to practice on the course over the last few days and only warned up to it half an hour before the final. She was clearly at a disadvantage as she faced the legendary 35-year-old Steamer and last year’s top-two finishers, Sablone
and Bufoni.
However, even with the minor handicap, the 23-year-old La Grange-resident managed to come up with an impressive performance. While she got off to a slow start, she eventually found her rhythm and threw down a sensational run to score a winning total of 88.00.
This winning run included a front-side lip-slide over roof gap, a back-side 180 kick-flip up the step-up gap and a crooked grind on the down rail.
Talking to a reporter after the final, Dal Santo said, “Just skating around you get more comfortable. I like this course. It flows pretty well. I didn't really have a run planned out. I just figured out what works and stuck with it, I guess. It was pretty
fun.”
Last year’s gold medalist, Sablone came up with an amazing performance as well during the final. After pulling off a kick-flip and 50-50 grind down the hubba ledge in two separate runs, she tried to pull them both off in one single run, but ended up falling
during a 50-50 grind attempt. Earning a score of 84.33 from her best run, she clinched the silver medal.
During her post-final interview, Sablone said, “I'm a little disappointed. I won last year, I got second the year before that and second this year. Second's still pretty good.”
The 18-year-old Brazilian, Bufoni completed the podium after scoring 78.00 from her best run to finish in third place and earn her second X Games medal.
The renowned female skater, Steamer failed to impress the judges during the finals on Friday and ended up missing out on the podium after finishing in fourth place with a best score of 64.66. The 19-year-old Florencio finished in fifth place after earning
a best score of 63.00.
The final turned out to be an intense and exciting experience for both the skaters and the fans. Once again, X Games managed to live up to its reputation and did justice to the hype that surrounds it.
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