X Games 2021 DAILY UPDATE Friday, July 16, 2021 Issue #3 Contents Quotable ...................................................................................................................................................... 1 Course Descriptions ..................................................................................................................................... 1 SKB Park ................................................................................................................................................... 1 SKB Vert ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Street ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 Moto X ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Freestyle Final .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Best Trick Final ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Best Whip Final ........................................................................................................................................ 8 110s Final ................................................................................................................................................. 9 QuarterPipe HiGh Air Final ..................................................................................................................... 11 SKB/BMX .................................................................................................................................................... 13 CA|TF Venue Preview for Friday ............................................................................................................ 13 Quotable --Mitchie Brusco, now 24, on his new approach to skateboarding, life, the universe and everything else: “It’s important to actually grow up. I think a lot of people have seen me as they saw me, and not as I am now. That’s a bit my fault because I’ve grown more than I’ve shown.” Course Descriptions SKB Park The California Training Facility (CA|TF) SKB Park course is set up for speed! • The deep end is 9-ft. 8-in. in the larger corner and 8-ft. 9-in. in the small corner pocket with pool coping in the corners. • An 18-ft. wide layback bank separates those and a 4-ft. 6-in. center island jump box. • The shallow end is 8 feet deep with (red) steel coping and features a 5-ft. quarterpipe hip next to a 6-ft. single barrel bank/spine feature at its center. • The shallow end also has a small bank extension (extending to 8-ft. 10-in.) and a larger vert extension (with 2 feet of vert, extending to 11 feet). SKB Vert The X Games Vert ramp is set up outside at CA|TF • 50 feet wide and 14 feet tall, with 2 feet of vert. • The roll-in ramps are 20 feet tall from the flat bottom and set at 55-degree angles. • For the Vert Best Trick contest, builders from California Skateparks will add a setback extension, with coping set 3 feet, 6 inches above the Vert ramp coping. • Built to resemble a kitchen island countertop (or a bar), the new feature won’t be mandatory in Vert Best Trick but should add a new dimension. Street THE CA|TF SKB Street course is in a long rectangular layout. • At one side of the upper elevation is a 3-ft. 6-in. quarterpipe that directs skaters into a Euro gap feature with ledge and wallride options • There’s a centered 8-stair handrail and a small out-ledge that leads into a set of two 6-stair handrails. • For the Street Best Trick contest, a modification will add a skateable 3-dimensional “X” logo protruding from the center of the 3 lower stairs and a new kicker ramp to help launch skaters onto either of the two 6-stair handrails. • At the other side of the upper elevation is a 4-ft. quarterpipe that directs into options including a low kinked rail and two bump-to-rail features, then a Hubba ledge and a bump to long down rail (course builders will paint it green before the contest and are calling it the Monster rail). • The lower elevation has a 3-ft., 6-in. quarterpipe at one end, a 7-ft. bank extension on the other end, and a long 5-ft. quarterpipe between them. Moto X Freestyle Final Thursday, July 15, 2021 Researcher: Nicole Dreon GOLD: Luc Ackermann (GER) SILVER: Josh Sheehan (AUS) BRONZE: Rob Adelberg (AUS) Course Proves Challenging • The X Games 2021 Freestyle course was one of the biggest courses ever at XG (and nearly twice as big at the XG Minneapolis tracks) and the first one held outside since Austin 2016. • Riders said the course was really technical and that they needed more practice time. It showed in their riding. There were few runs finished without crashes or mistakes. Even Rob Adelberg, who won the most recent XG Freestyle comp at Minneapolis 2019, looked rough and off key…and he still took bronze! As TV analyst Mike Mason noted, the athletes haven’t had a proper freestyle contest since XG MPLS 2019, and returning after such a long break to face a very difficult course was a tough ask. • Much of the field flew in from Australia, and jetlag may have been an issue. Getting the permits to leave Australia during covid was challenging enough before adding on a long flight. • The heat was also a factor. It reached 90 degrees on both Wednesday and Thursday. Not the highest the West has seen this summer, certainly, but keep in mind riders are decked out in full moto outfits and sitting atop a 450cc engine, which emit a lot of heat. Ackermann First German To Medal in Moto X • The second-youngest rider on the roster, Luc Ackermann, 23, claimed gold in his third X Games appearance and first Freestyle start. He’s competed in Best Trick twice: 7th, Minneapolis 2018; 5th, Norway 2019. • He’s now the first German to medal in any Moto X discipline. • Ackermann entered XG 2021 as a longshot to medal at all. Luc has dominated Europe’s popular, long-running Night of the Jumps series, but those events typically are held at small arenas with tiny courses. But he adapted well to the giant Slayground setup. • Luc’s run was highlighted by a very smooth 360, two solid double backflips and a flair off the quarterpipe. • His score of 92.33 is the exact same tally Adelberg, Tom Pages and Levi Sherwood posted to win X Games Minneapolis 2019, 2018 and 2017. Silver for Sheeny • Australian Josh Sheehan is solid as a rock on any course, and he used multiple double backflips for silver. Sheehan clearly had a plan; he rode aggressively and with purpose, squeezing in more tricks than others in the field. Like Ackermann, Josh did a flair and a 360, but his 360 wasn’t as flat and he had some bobbles in his runs. • Sheehan now has 12 total X Games medals between Freestyle, Best Trick and QuarterPipe. He’s also medaled in 5 of the past 6 X Games Freestyle comps since 2016. Adelberg Claims Bronze • Rob Adelberg also added to his X Games medal count: Freestyle bronze brings his total up to 12, matching his Aussie countryman Sheehan. • Before the pandemic, Adelberg enjoyed an incredible stretch where he earned 9 X Games medals from Aspen 2018 through Norway 2019, the most in a 2-year span in X Games history. • While known for his frontflips (he threw three on his way to Freestyle gold at Minneapolis 2019), he only threw one at XG 2021. Hey SportsCenter! • While everyone made it through the contest relatively unscathed, there were two pretty entertaining bloopers. • XG rookie Ben Richards came up short (while upside down!) on the very first jump of his first run and jabbed his front wheel into the top of the landing. There was a great super slo-mo shot of the crash. He recovered and took a second run. But he came up short again on several jumps. Jackson Strong waved him off the course to tell him he had a flat tire. • Harry Bink, riding shirtless so as to better show off the giant tattoo he has of his own brother’s face on his back (and, sure, because it was hot), underrotated a double backflip and flew into the puckerbrush on his first run. It took a few course crew workers to untangle his bike from the thorny desert bushes. Format: (8 athletes, 2 runs each, best run counts. 75 seconds per run) Gold: Ackermann threw one of the best 360s ever (better than Josh Sheehan’s) and two double backflips to power him to gold. Luc Ackermann He was also one of two (with Josh Sheehan) to use the Run 1 quarterpipe, landing a flair. He was clean and completed an entire run without major mistakes, unlike most of his 92.33 peers. In the process, he became the first German to earn a Moto X medal. WATCH IT! Tricks: backflip seatgrab Indy, 360, Ruler backflip, double MEDAL RUNS backflip, flair (quarterpipe), double backflip nac nac, cliffhanger, holy grab on the 105-ft. ramp. Silver: Josh Sheehan Sheehan’s run was highlighted by two double backflips and a 360 (Luc Ackermann’s 360 was better). He also Run 1 and 2 landed a flair on the quarterpipes. He stuffed his run with tricks, which might have worked against him: Judges 89.66 thought he used too many old and easy moves between his big tricks, which is what kept him from gold. Tricks: Holy grab, 360, really good Ruler backflip, double backflip, flair (off quarterpipe) into whip, backflip Lazy Boy off the 105-ft. ramp, no-footed nac Indy,