Vicki Golden clinches gold medal in Women’s Moto X Racing – X Games 17 Update
The third day action of X Games 17 continued with the elimination round and final of Women’s Moto X Racing at STAPLES Centre in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday, July 30.
Once the dust from the final settled, America’s Vicki Golden stood the highest on the podium, claiming her first-ever X Games gold medal. Puerto Rico’s Tarah Gieger finished in runner-up place for the second year in a row, adding another silver medal to
her resume. France’s Livia Lancelot took the lowest spot on the podium, taking home the bronze.
For the last two years, Women’s Moto X Racing had been getting dominated by America’s 20-year-old Ashley Fiolek. However, the young sensation missed out on her opportunity at a three-peat after crashing during practice earlier in the day.
With Fiolek out of the competition, the field for the contest came down to seven riders. These seven riders were split in two groups to compete in two separate heats. The top two riders of each bracket were to advance to the finals.
In the first heat, Golden and her compatriot Sarah Price rounded out the top-two positions respectively to advance to the finals, removing Elizabeth Bash from the competition in the process.
The second heat saw Gieger and Lancelot finish in the Top 2 to go through to the final, consequently eliminating Sayaka Kaneshiro and Jessica Patterson from the competition.
As the final kicked off, the California-native Golden grabbed the hole-shot to take an early advantage. Her consistent and cautious riding allowed her to hold her lead, eventually carrying her off to victory in just a second appearance of X Games.
“It feels good and I can't believe it happened,” said Golden during her post-final interview. “We've been putting in a lot of hard work and it feels good for it to finally pay off.”
The 25-year-old Gieger finished almost four seconds behind Golden to clinch her second consecutive silver medal, taking her X Games medals to a count of three.
France’s 23-year-old Lanceot rounded out the podium after finishing in third place, while the 18-year-old Californian, Price, finished in fourth place due to a crash early in the first lap.
While Golden comfortably dominated the final this year, it would be interesting to see if she is able to prove her superiority over the 2009 and 2010 gold medallist, Fiolek, next year.
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