X Games 2021 DAILY UPDATE Saturday, July 17, 2021 Issue #4

Contents Quotable ...... 1 SKB ...... 1 Men’s SKB Park Final ...... 1 Women’s SKB Park Final ...... 3 SKB Vert Final ...... 6 SKB Vert Best Trick Final ...... 8 Youngest Gold Medalists All-Time ...... 9 CA|TF Venue Preview (Street) ...... 11 BMX ...... 13 BMX Street Final ...... 13

Quotable

Tony Hawk, on why, at 53, he spontaneously joined the SKB Vert Best Trick field: “If you build it, I will come. There’s a serious lack of vert events these days. I feel like I’ve got to support as best I can.”

SKB

Men’s SKB Park Final Friday, July 16, 2021 Researcher: Colin Bane

GOLD: Liam Pace (USA) SILVER: Gavin Bottger (USA) BRONZE: Tristan Rennie (USA)

Pace and Bottger: Rookies Go Gold, Silver • Liam Pace put his stamp on the X Games 2021 Park Final right from the jump, pasting a huge frontside against the setback wall about 6 feet above the deck early in Run 1. Run 2 was his best pass and bumped him into the gold medal slot for good. The 20-year-old from Tucson, AZ, now will be known for more than just his flowing curls. • Liam attacked the course, bringing a more aggressive, um, pace to the contest. He charged. “I was a little bit nervous but excited that I skated and put down the run I wanted to: I didn’t care what happened besides that,” Pace told reporter Craig McMorris in his gold medal interview. “It feels like a dream. I haven’t processed it yet.”

• It’s the first time in X Games history that Men’s Skateboard Park gold and silver both went to rookies, and it makes for a fairytale conclusion to the XG Minneapolis Next X Park amateur contests that ran from 2017-2019. The Next X Park series, meant to introduce young athletes to the big show at X Games, saw its promise fulfilled today: In 2019, Pace was the 2019 Next X Park winner, with today’s silver medalist Gavin Bottger right behind him in 2nd place (Bottger also finished 2nd in Next X Park in 2018).

• Pace and Bottger’s success also is a testament to CA|TF itself: Pace relocated to nearby Oceanside, CA, in 2019 to be closer to the facility, and Bottger’s been living in Oceanside for most of his life. Both are CA|TF Elite members who skate the course often. It showed.

Bottger: The Future Is Now • Gavin Bottger, the youngest in the Men’s SKB Park field at 14, struggled with falls in each of his first 4 passes. He came through in the nick of time, nailing Run 5, his final pass, with highlights including a backside 540 Weddle, Indy, 360 nosegrab over the box jump, 360 judo and Cab . • It’s the second major podium for Bottger in 2021: he finished 3rd at Dew Tour Des Moines in May.

Bronze for Rennie • Park Bronze is the second X Games medal for Tristan Rennie, who previously took silver at XG Minneapolis 2018. • Rennie had full-pull runs in 4 of 5 passes, with highlights including a backside 540 nosegrab, a 360, a on a vertical support post in the shallow end of the course, and a backside blunt in the deep end. • So smooth and so stylish, Rennie sometimes makes things look so easy that judges may forget that they’re hard. After getting briefly bumped off the podium, he took it back from Tom Schaar in Run 5, his final attempt. • The new dad seemed perfectly happy with the result, and his partner Mikayla Sheppard and baby daughter, Isla, were on-site to cheer him onto the podium.

Format: (8 athletes, 30-minute jam session, 40 seconds each run, best run counts) Gold: Liam Skating super-fast and pumping every wall and transition for all they were Pace worth, Liam meant business from the start. He took an early lead in Run 1 but was briefly bumped off the top spot by Tom Schaar, who dropped last. Gold Medal Run Pace reclaimed the No. 1 position in Run 2 and held on. Statement tricks like his frontside wallride (stamped HARD on the wall, at overhead height), backside 540 and Cab backside disaster were standouts, but he might have Medal Runs won on speed and flow alone. X Games judges love aggressive rippers, and Liam raised the pace (pardon the pun) of the entire comp.

Run 2 highlights: a long backside Smith , backside 540, kickflip Indy, frontside wallride that was HIGH up the wall (he was the only rider doing it), frontside nosegrind, frontside 180 over the box jump, full Cab backside disaster.

Silver: Falls early in his first 3 runs and a bail at the buzzer in Run 4 left Gavo Gavin playing catchup in Run 5. He delivered. The 14-year-old skates CA|TF often, Bottger and it showed.

Run 5 highlights: backside 540 Weddle, kickflip Indy, 360 nosegrab over the box jump, 360 judo, Cab heelflip, kickflip fastplant on the spine ramp. That kickflip fastplant was a little sketchy, and it might have meant the difference between gold and silver.

Bronze: Falls on 540s in Run 1 and 2 were uncharacteristic, but his overcrook to Tristan disaster in Run 1 was a contest highlight. He bumped to 3rd in Run 3, briefly Rennie lost it, then reclaimed it with his Run 5 pass, edging Tom Schaar for the podium.

Run 5 highlights: backside 540 nosegrab, 360 to fakie, a pole jam on a vertical support post in the shallow end of the course and a backside blunt in the deep end.

4. Tom A podium favorite coming in and the leader after Run 1, Tom impressed with Schaar a back tail on the extension, alley-oop disaster, frontside feeble grind through the corner, McTwist, frontside blunt and frontside Ollie.

He did pretty much the same run in all 5 passes, building up to a bigspin backside disaster ender, but fell on it at the buzzer in every run. Just one make would’ve had him on the podium, and perhaps in gold. Analyst Gary Rogers chastised him for losing his hat in every run.

5. Clay Clay’s frontside stalefish air, kickflip Indy, half-Cab to fakie and alley-oop Kreiner 540 were standout tricks, but falls in 4 of 5 passes didn’t help his case. Fast, reckless and fun, he added some flair to the contest but couldn’t deliver. May have had his mind on the Vert and Vert Best Trick comps to come later in the day.

6. Trey Trey had an innovative line with a wild gap transfer from the wall to the Wood center island box jump, but getting to it in every pass seemed to trip up the former XG Park medalist. Falls on 540 attempts throughout the contest cost him.

7. CJ A last-second add as a rookie from the alternate list, CJ had a great alley- Collins oop 360 and a big frontside alley-oop Ollie in several of his passes, but also had a bunch of falls. Missing practice on Thursday probably didn’t help.

8. Augusto Park debut for the Brazilian Vert skater showed some promise -- his heeflip Akio double grab combo in Run 1 got analyst Gary Rogers’ attention -- but his Vert skills weren’t showing; he fell on 540 attempts in several of his runs.

Women’s SKB Park Final Friday, July 16, 2021 Researcher: Colin Bane

GOLD: Sky Brown (GBR) SILVER: Mami Tezuka (JPN) BRONZE: Bryce Wettstein (USA)

Sky’s the Limit for Teen Champ After riding a wave of hype into X Games 2021, Sky Brown delivered. The newly-turned 13-year-old handily won Women’s SKB Park with full-pull runs in all four passes and statement tricks like a frontside 540, kickflip Indy and frontside 360 that set her apart. She led after Run 1 and never let up. She took different lines and landed different tricks each run, which is highly unusual. Sky topped a podium that featured two other first-time medalists.

• Though her frontside 540 in Run 1 was a contest highlight, Run 2 was arguably her best full pass, with a stylish, tweaked out frontside 360 over the jump box (the only competitor in the field not sending straight airs over the center island feature) to open the pass. • Sky turned 13 on July 7. Her win (briefly) made her the second-youngest gold medalist in X Games history. Gui Khury, 12, pushed Sky down to 3rd when he won SKB Vert Best Trick a few hours later and become the youngest gold medalist in history. • There now have been 6 unique gold medalists from the 7 Women’s SKB Park comps at X Games. It’s one of the most competitive discipline at X Games, and also the youngest. The average age of the 2021 podium was 16 yrs. 4 mos -- and that’s only the third-youngest podium in the discipline at X Games. • It’s Sky’s first medal in her second X Games appearance (5th at XG Minneapolis 2019).

Mami Tezuka Takes Silver • Park riding the way it’s meant to be done -- speed, flow, aggression, hitting everything on the course and soaring over the biggest gaps -- makes Mami Tezuka a force to be reckoned with. • The Japanese teen had great, full-pull runs in 3 of 4 passes. She set herself apart by launching transfer airs in both directions between the vert extension and bank extension on the course, including a frontside stalefish air over the gap on the last wall of her last run that got the loudest reaction of the contest from the small crowd of friends, family and other XG 2021 competitors on hand.

Bronze for Bryce Wettstein • Rounding out a podium of first-time medalists, American Bryce Wettstein moved into bronze medal position in Run 2 and kept it or regained it on each pass. • Very consistent despite bringing some of the most innovative, technical and difficult tricks of the contest, the 17-year-old’s creative approach suits her free-spirit personality. (Seriously, she just released an EP of original songs featuring her ukulele playing. At 17.) • Bonus points to Bryce for being the only American skater in the Olympics who defied a USA Skateboarding edict to skip XG 2021. Sky Brown (GBR) and Poppy Olsen (AUS) were also Tokyo-bound after XG.

Format: (9 athletes, 30-minute jam session, 40 second each run, best run counts) Gold: Sky Sky dominated, and it wasn’t close. She had the four best runs of the Brown contest and did two tricks -- frontside 540 in the deep end and frontside 360 over the box jump -- that nobody else in women’s competition does. Medal Runs While nearly everyone else in the comp used their four passes to perfect a line, Sky flipped the script and went for four entirely different runs, adding new tricks in each pass. She had a trick for every wall, even in the few cases where she lost a little speed on course along the way.

Run 1: backside grab over box, backside Weddle air, frontside stale over gap to bank, frontside alley-oop 270 hip transfer, back disaster, backside alley-oop 270 hip transfer, backside Ollie (low on vert extension), backside 50-50 (low speed), back tailslide, backside noseblunt pull in, frontside nosegrind, backside 5-0, frontside 540.

Run 2: frontside 360 box jump (SO tweaked and styled out), backside judo, frontside stalefish over gap, frontside alley-oop 270 hip, back disaster, gap to spine transfer, backside grab over box, backside 50-50, frontside air (poked!), backside tailslide corner, invert, crailslide, hip Ollie on center island.

Run 3: backside air over box, kickflip Indy, backside alley-oop 270, crailslide, back disaster on bank extension, gap to spine transfer, frontside Smith, backside 50-50, frontside air poke, back tailslide, backside noseblunt pull in, crailslide

Run 4: backside air over box, kickflip Indy, backside alley-oop 270, backside disaster on extension bank, gap to spine transfer, big frontside stalefish, back tail, backside noseblunt pull in

Silver: Mami Runs 3 and 4 were her best passes, and the final trick in each (a gap to Tezuka 5-0 on the spine ramp to gap out in Run 3, and a huge frontside stalefish transfer over the gap between the large extensions in Run 4) got big reactions, both in the venue and in the commentary booth.

Run 3: Indy air over box, backside Ollie, backside Smith, Indy air, backside Ollie, frontside gap to tailslide, frontside air over gap between extensions, gap to 5-0 to gap out transfer on spine rump (bumping her into silver medal position).

Run 4: Backside grab over box, invert, backside Ollie, backside Smith, backside air, backside Ollie hip transfer, frontside gap to tailslide, frontside Smith, frontside stalefish air over gap between extensions.

Bronze: Nearly full-pull runs in all four passes, and each packed full of weird, Bryce wonderful and wild tricks nobody else is doing. Bryce has a small Wettstein backyard bowl and vert ramp; she’s been mastering all kinds of fun lip tricks on the smaller setup, then bringing them to the deep end. It helps that she’s a CA|TF local: Bryce has as much time on the XG 2021 course as anyone.

Run 1: Backside air, backside 50-50 to fakie, alley-oop Cab 5 from deep corner pocket to large layback bank feature, noseblunt, backside Ollie, back disaster, fastplant disaster on spine ramp.

Run 2: Cab to rockslide, 50-50 to fakie, alley-oop Cab 540, 5-0, gap to lipslide, backside feeble grind, noseblunt, backside Ollie.

Run 3: Drop-in revert, sugarcane, noseblunt, big backside Ollie, back disaster on vert extension, backside 5-0, alley-oop Cab 540, frontside Ollie hip transfer, fall on fakie shove-it at the buzzer.

Run 4: Disaster revert, Cab rockslide, 50-50 to fakie, alley-oop Cab 540, backside Ollie, backside Smith, frontside gap to lipslide, feeble to fakie, backside alley-oop Ollie.

4. Minna Stess Strong in all 4 passes, and very nearly on the podium.

Run 3 bumped her into 4th, Run 4 helped her hang on to it. A strong showing for the 15-year-old who’s very familiar with the CA|TF facility.

Run 3: Tailgrab air over box, front Smith to lipslide combo, backside Ollie hip transfer, backside kickflip on bank, 50-50, hip gap to spine transfer, frontside Smith revert, blunt to fakie.

Run 4: Front Smith, backside Weddle air, lipslide, feeble, backside Ollie hip transfer, backside 5-0, backside kickflip on bank, gap to spine transfer, invert on tall vert extension.

5. Jordan Landed the only backside 540 of the contest -- a proper McTwist in Run Santana 2. Props to Santana, whose stated goal was to land the McTwist; nothing else mattered to her. She worked on it for two hours straight in Thursday’s practice before finally landing it. On Friday, she landed it in her second try.

Run 2: McTwist, frontside 5-0, lipslide, frontside feeble, backside air hip transfer, frontside air to tail, boneless on bank, frontside Weddle transfer, invert, fall at buzzer. The run briefly put in her bronze medal position.

6. Poppy Olsen Highlights included a backside grab over the box, front Smith, invert, front feeble, in Run 1 (fall at the buzzer cost her). Also had a great fastplant on the vert extension in Run 4. She skated fast and attacked the course, but she just didn’t try enough tough tricks.

7. Kihana On a mission, Kihana did essentially the same run in all four passes -- Ogawa and she fell on the kickflip spine ramp transfer she’d planned to end it with in each pass.

Runs 1-4, more or less: Backside grab over box, backside air, backside Ollie hip transfer, backside Smith, gap to lipslide, Smith grind through corner, frontside stalefish air, fall on kickflip spine ramp transfer.

8. Grace Very similar run in all four attempts, with beautiful eggplant (front hand) Marhoefer inverts in each pass. 9. Nora Nora very rarely competes but has carved out a great career with Vasconcellos creative edits and hardcore, gritty skating that’s earned respect and affection across the industry. It was a treat to see her at X Games 2021. Unfortunately, she fell on kickflip Indy attempts on the 2nd wall in all 4 passes.

SKB Vert Final Friday, July 16, 2021 Researcher: Colin Bane

GOLD: Jimmy Wilkins (USA) SILVER: Elliot Sloan (USA) BRONZE: Mitchie Brusco (USA)

Three Straight Gold for Wilkins XG Minneapolis 2018 and 2019 gold medalist Jimmy Wilkins made it three straight at XG 2021. Falls in his first two runs provided some suspense, but he improved to silver medal position in Run 3 and upped it to gold in Run 4 with the tricks for which he’s known -- floaty alley-oop Ollies, Ollie 360s, Ollie 540s, 540 tailgrabs. He added something new in Run 4, with a Caballerial Ollie to switch 5-0 grind.

Wilkins’ threepeat puts him in elite company: He’s just the third person in the history of the discipline to go back-to-back-to-back. • Jimmy Wilkins / 3 / Minneapolis 2018, Minneapolis 2019, XG 2021 • Bucky Lasek / 4 / Foz do Iguaçu 2013, Barcelona 2013, Munich 2013, Los Angeles 2013 • Pierre-Luc Gagnon / 3 / Los Angeles 2008, 2009, 2010 Wilkins now has made the Vert podium in his 5 most recent X Games appearances.

First Vert Medal for Sloan • Though he’s one of the most talented transition skaters ever, Elliot Sloan had never medaled in Vert. It’s been nagging at him: 9 previous starts, no medals. 10th time’s the charm. • Sloan always has had the tricks. In fact, he owns Vert Best Trick gold from XG Austin 2015. But putting together a full-pull in Vert has proved elusive. He finally did it in Run 2, taking the lead. • Better known as a Big Air star (4 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze), he now owns 12 total X Games medals.

The Bronze Age • Frustrating/rewarding stat for Mitchie Brusco: He now owns SIX bronze medals (and one silver) in SKB Vert. • Mitchie’s 720 and alley-oop 540 in Run 2 were contest highlights and briefly had him in silver medal position.

Format: (8 athletes, 30-minute jam session, 30 seconds each run, best run counts) Gold: In a contest otherwise stacked with 720s from several competitors, and 900s from one competitor (Gui Khury), Jimmy Wilkins continued to prove that a Jimmy Vert contest can be won with lots of Ollies and no spin counts above 540 Wilkins degrees. Sneaking in a just-barely-touched switch 5-0 grind before re-entry as he came around on an alley-oop Cab 270 in Run 4 helped sway the judges to his favor.

He bumped to silver medal position in Run 3. Judges took longer than normal to rank that run, and leader Elliot Sloan seemed shocked when they didn’t place Wilkins in first. Jimmy took the top spot in Run 4.

Run 3: backside lipslide, backside 540, backside heelflip backside grab, alley- oop Ollie, backside 540 tailgrab, Ollie 360 to fakie, backside Ollie, Ollie 540.

Run 4: backside disaster, backside 540, heelflip backside grab, alley-oop Ollie, backside 540 tailgrab, kickflip Indy, Ollie 540, backside air, backside Ollie to tail, alley-oop Cab 270 to switch 5-0, fakie Ollie to tail.

Silver: Falls in his last 3 runs kept Elliot from improving, but his 2nd pass was enough to (finally) put him on the Vert medals board, after falling short in his 9 Elliot previous attempts. Sloan Run 2: Frontside air, back-to-back 540s, alley-oop backside air, boneless to fakie, fakie 720, 360 to fakie.

Bronze: After landing a 720 in Run 2, it seemed like Mitchie was building towards a 900 or 1080: several of his falls were from winding up for something big, but Mitchie he didn’t keep his board with him while he was spinning and flying through the Brusco air.

Run 2: frontside 360 to fakie, fakie 720, fs air, backside Ollie,back-to-back 540s, Madonna, backside 360, fakie 540

4. Bucky XG 2021 was the best Vert finish for Bucky since his 4th place at XG Austin Lasek 2016, despite falls in most of his runs. Switch skating and lots of flip tricks kept him in the mix, but he was the first to admit his age (48) was showing. He popped into the commentary booth by the Vert ramp between runs to soak up the cool air blowing in.

5. Gui The youngest athlete at X Games 2021 at just 12 years old. Gui was the most Khury consistent, with full-pull runs in 4 of 5 passes. He also landed four 900s while a certain dude named Tony Hawk watched on the deck.

Run 1: frontside grab, kickflip Indy, 900, frontside air, backside Ollie, kickflip 540, frontside lipslide, varial 540, air to fakie.

He added 720s in subsequent runs, including back-to-back 720s in Run 5, but some of his 900s were landed very low and killed his speed.

6. Akio Strong skating, with highlights including a kickflip Indy, backside 540, heelflip Augusto fakie, fakie front 360, back 360 to fakie, and front blunt. He held the lead for a bit after Run 1.

7. Clay Back-to-back 540s, wild frontside stalefish airs and kickflip Indy grabs were Kreiner reminders that Kreiner rips, but he had multiple falls. It was a tough day for Clay. He’s one of the best all-around skaters in the world, but he struggled to land anything all day -- Park, Vert, Vert Best Trick, whatever.

8. Tom Had a great alley-oop 270 to lipslide in Run 2, but something seemed off about Schaar his leg. He left after Run 2 to be evaluated by X Games Medical for leg and abdominal cramps due to dehydration. Did not return for his last three runs.

SKB Vert Best Trick Final Friday, July 16, 2021 Researcher: Colin Bane/Nicole Dreon

GOLD: Gui Khury (BRA)

Shock And Awe What a crazy day: Tony Hawk competed seemingly on a whim, a 12-year-old set multiple major records and X Games was near the center of the sports world.

Gui Khury Makes History! • It took him 8 attempts, but Gui Khury landed a 1080 at the buzzer for Skateboard Vert Best Trick gold. In the process, he set two important records: • 1. At 12 years, 7 mos. of age (12 years, 211 days, specifically), Gui becomes the youngest gold medalist in X Games history. • 2. It was the first 1080 ever landed on a standard vert ramp in competition. • The youngest gold mark previously was held by Brighton Zeuner, who was 13 yrs. 1 day when she won Women’s SKB Park at X Games Minneapolis 2017. • The young Brazilian was in tears of joy when Tony Hawk gave him a congratulatory hug. • Khury has been stacking records since he was 7 years old, when he became the youngest skater ever to land a 720. At age 8 he became the youngest to land a 900. • For the numbers nerds: Gui was born 9 years after Tony Hawk landed the first 900 at XG San Francisco 1999. • When he dropped in for SKB Vert at XG Minneapolis 2019 (then just 10 years, 7 months old), he set a new mark as the youngest competitor in X Games history. • In May 2020, at age 11, he became the first skater ever to land a 1080 on a traditional competition-size vert ramp. And now he’s the first to do it in a contest.

Youngest X Games Gold Medalists All-Time Age Year/Sport/Disc. Gui Khury 12 yrs. 6 mos. 2021: SKB Vert Best Trick Brighton Zeuner 13 yrs. 1 day. 2017 MPLS: W SKB Park Sky Brown 13 yrs. 9 days 2021: W SKB Park Misugu Okamoto 13 yrs. 1 mo. 2019 MPLS: W SKB Park Kokomo Murase 13 yrs. 6 mos. 2018 Norway: W SBD Big Air Ryan Sheckler 13 yrs. 7 mos. 2003: Men’s SKB Park

Note: Youngest Medalist. Cocona Hiraki, 10 yrs., 11 mos. is the youngest overall medalist in X Games history (silver, Minneapolis 2019 Women’s SKB Park).

Tony Hawk Joins the Party! • Wait, what? No, seriously: THE Tony Hawk just competed at X Games 2021. That’s a thing that really happened. • Less than an hour before Vert Best Trick was supposed to start, action sports legend Tony Hawk, now 53, dropped into the Vert ramp during practice. Hawk’s private skate warehouse is within minutes of CA|TF, and he was on hand watching X Games as a spectator. • Reportedly, when Tony noticed the vert ramp had an extension, a feature he’s been practicing on recently, he got excited about the contest. • Tony’s name officially was added to the Vert Best Trick roster less than 15 minutes before the contest began.

• Coming in straight off the couch, Hawk put down some impressive tricks, including an invert varial and a Caballerial to 5-0 pivot on the extension. • The last time Hawk competed at X Games was in 2003, when he took gold in Vert Best Trick (with a 900, of course). The 18 years between appearances is the longest gap in X Games history. • You still can count the number of skaters who have landed a 900 on the X Games Vert ramp on one hand: Hawk, Sandro Dias, Mitchie Brusco, Tom Schaar and Khury. • The 41 years between Khury, 12, and Hawk, 53, was the largest age gap between youngest and oldest in any X Games contest in history. • The last time Hawk competed in 2003, Gui was 6 years from being born. Augusto Akio was 2. Tom Schaar was 3. Mitchie Brusco and Clay Kreiner were 6…and Bucky Lasek won X Games SKB Vert. Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist; there was no social media to capture the occasion in real time. • Hawk has 10 X Games gold and 16 XG medals overall.

• Tony Hawk, on why he joined the comp: "If you build it, I will come. There's a serious lack of vert events these days. I feel like I've got to support as best I can."

Format: (9 athletes, 20-minute jam session, best run counts) Gold: It took Khury 8 attempts, but he finally stuck the 1080 at the buzzer for gold. Khury used the roll-in to generate enough speed for the trick and on his final attempt he squatted almost to the floor to ride Gui Khury it out. He had a slight hand drag, but the judges didn’t seem to dock him. In fact, it looked a bit like another legendary spin.

WATCH IT! With the win, the 12-year-old Khury becomes the youngest gold medalist in X Games history.

It was the first time the trick had been landed on a standard vert ramp in competition. Khury had landed it before on his home ramp in Brazil.

1. 1080 fall 2. 1080 fall 3. 1080 fall: big air to fakie for setup 4. 1080 fall 5. 1080: Close -- wheels down, feet on board, but slid to butt 6. 1080 fall (close again, out) 7. 1080: wheels down, overcooked and fell over forward 8. 1080 LANDED! It took a serious squat and a hand drag, but he rode it out!

2. Elliot Sloan After earning silver in Vert an hour before, Sloan stuck one awesome trick during the Vert Best Trick comp. After attempting a Cab heelflip 720 four times, he put it to his feet on his 5th attempt. He waved off the rest of his runs.

5. Cab heelflip 720

3. Jimmy Wilkins Wilkins claimed his third straight gold in X Games Vert right before heading back out to the ramp for Vert Best Trick. He landed one trick--his first one.

1. backside disaster on extension

4. Tony Hawk Right off the couch, Hawk brought goosebumps and thrills to the event. Ridiculously exciting to have him in the contest. Tony actually put four tricks to his feet, using the extension every time. His 4th and 6th tricks were the best.

After coming back to the deck after his invert varial he put his hand over his heart and said, “still ticking!”

1. fall 2. invert 3. fall 4. invert varial 5. fall on 5-0 6. Caballerial to 5-0 pivot on extension 7. footplant

5. Tom Schaar Schaar went for tricks on the extension on all of his attempts but didn’t put anything to his feet until his last two passes.

7. Nose stall 8. crooked grind to fakie on extension

6. Augusto Akio Akio landed two tricks. His 4th -- a frontside nosegrind -- was the best.

1. front blunt on extension 4. frontside nosegrind

7. Mitchie Brusco Brusco was riding high off a bronze in Vert an hour before, but he couldn’t put anything to his feet in Vert Best Trick. It looked like he went for a big spin heelflip 540 on his second pass and tried it again, but he couldn’t stick it.

8. Clay Kreiner Kreiner went for the extension in each run, but he never put the board back under his feet.

9. Bucky Lasek Lasek was scheduled to be the oldest in the comp (48). He had been the oldest athlete in all of XG 2021 until about 15 minutes before Vert Best Trick began, when Tony Hawk (53) joined the line-up. He never put a trick to his feet. The last time Lasek competed against Hawk was in 2003; he finished 5th in Vert Best Trick while Hawk was taking gold.

CA|TF Venue Preview (Street) Friday, July 16, 2021 Researcher: Colin Bane

Women’s SKB Street, 3 p.m.

Legacy Building Heavy favorite Leticia Bufoni spent much of Friday’s practice working on a backside lipslide down the 6-stair handrail. She also got backside Smith grinds and frontside feeble grinds on the 8-stair handrail. She’s aiming to build an unassailable case for gold.

• Bufoni aims to win her 5th X Games Women’s SKB Street gold, breaking her tie with Elissa Steamer for most gold in the discipline. Leticia -- newly conscious about wanting to set standards for other women in skateboarding to aspire -- says it’s a record that matters to her. • After playing close attention in practice, Bufoni said she isn’t taking anything for granted and, despite her familiarity with the top of the podium, still gets the pre- contest jitters. “It feels like my first X Games every time,” she said.

Float Like a Monarch • Word has been leaking out for weeks now: Bufoni and Sky Brown are joining up to launch their own skateboard brand, Monarch. Two of the most popular skateboarders in the world, both women, combining to start a new board brand in an industry that’s traditionally been dominated by dudes? How awesome is that? Bufoni and Brown soon will be skating in Tokyo. We’re not sure if the Olympics’ shifting, traditionally draconian rules regarding sponsorship prevent Leticia from promoting the new endeavor. But whatever the exact rules are now, they don’t prevent us from doing so. Bufoni will ride her new signature board in Women’s Street.

Flipping Out

Samarria Brevard’s 360 flip down the 6-stair set was a practice highlight. • “The course is fun for sure, and it has more than enough rails, good-size stairs, quarterpipes to get you back and all this good stuff in the middle,” Brevard said, assessing the CA|TF Street course. • Acutely aware that it’s been a minute since her lone X Games medal, Street silver at XG Minneapolis 2017, Brevard said she’s been prioritizing XG this year. “I would say my consistency is way up. I have a lot more clean landings now, and I’m more precise with how I execute my maneuvers. I’m definitely a stronger skater than I was in 2019.”

Also watch for Poe Pinson, who surprised with 5th at XG Minneapolis 2019, making the Final as a rookie.

Men’s SKB Street, 8 p.m.

P-Rod in the House Four-time X Games Street champ Paul Rodriguez was the first to arrive for Thursday’s practice, and for much of it he and Louie Lopez had the place to themselves. “It’s good to be back,” P-Rod said.

• P-Rod is a legit street legend who last competed at X Games at Austin 2015. In the intervening years he’s been running his Primitive brand, pursuing an acting career and recovering from a devastating 2018 right knee injury (ACL, MCL, meniscus) that kept him off his board for more than a year and gave him time to think about how much he missed competing and missed X Games in particular. • He owns the 2nd most gold (4, behind Nyjah Huston’s 10) and 2nd most medals (8, behind Nyjah Huston’s 16) in the Street discipline. • After going hard on Thursday, P-Rod skipped the Friday practice to conserve energy before the final. • The oldest in the field at 36, P-Rod may not be a podium favorite anymore, but he’s a favorite skater of everyone else in the field. In an interview package with analyst Gary Rogers that will air during the broadcast, Norway 2019 Street gold medalist Ishod Wair credits seeing a P-Rod video for spurring his interest in skateboarding in the first place. He’s not alone in that: “Yesterday, when I first got here, P-Rod was skating and killing it and I found myself just sort of fanning out,” said Jamie Foy. “I got so caught up watching him skate that I almost forgot I was here to skate myself.”

Unsung Heroes Jamie Foy, the 2019 Real Street bronze medalist, is still searching for his first Street medal. He was a standout in practice on Friday night (the second Men’s SKB Street session of the week), with a fakie flip to backside lipslide down the 6-stair handrail as a highlight. • “I’m feeling pretty good,” Foy said. “It’s a fun course because there’s a lot of options, a lot of rails, a lot of bumps. It looked a little clustered up at first, but it’s not at all. It’s perfectly spaced out for you to choose however you want to skate it.” • Foy finished 5th in Street at XG Minneapolis 2019, his best finish from 5 Street starts. • A medal feels fated for Foy, a member of Thrasher Magazine’s elite Skater of the Year ranks (SOTY 2017). • Other tremendously talented skaters in the field looking for their first X Games Street medal include Chris Joslin (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze in Real Street, but yet to earn a medal in Street from 5 starts) and Louie Lopez (6th at both XG Oslo 2016 and Austin 2016).

Watch for X Games Norway 2019 Ishod Wair, who barely skated in either practice session, to show up and go hard, or not, depending on his mood. And also watch for Brazil’s Tiago Lemos: after watching practice on Friday, X Games sport organizer Mike Sinclair said the 21-year-old is his personal pick to surprise on Saturday.

“Tiago’s not really the typical contest skater, but he’s got lines, and he’s smooth, and he’s got hard-ass tricks,” Sinclair said after Friday’s practice. “Very impressive. He stood out a lot to me during practice for sure.”

SKB Street Best Trick, 9:30 p.m.

We’ll keep it short here, but Real Street Best Trick has a sporadic history at X Games. It debuted in 1995 (Jamie Thomas for the win), with subsequent gold medals going to legends Gershon Mosley (1996), Rick McCrank (2001), Rodil de Araujo (2002), Chad Muska (2003) and, at XG Minneapolis 2019, Nyjah Huston.

The California crew will add a new feature to the course after the Street contest, purpose-built for the Best Trick comp: it’s a bump-to-rail on the approach to the pair of 6- stair handrails that should make the course, and the jump feature, set up better for live broadcasting.

SKB Street Best Trick is a gold-medal-only event, and it will conclude XG 2021.

BMX

BMX Street Final Friday, July 16, 2021 Researcher: Colin Bane/Nicole Dreon

GOLD: Garrett Reynolds, USA SILVER: Felix Prangenberg, GER BRONZE: Alex Donnachie, SCO

Reynolds Joins BMX GOATs

BMX Street dominator Garrett Reynolds earned his 12th X Games gold in the discipline in 2021. Paired with his two Real Street gold (2016, 2020), he’s now at 14 total gold. That ties him with a couple of very big names for most BMX gold in X Games history. “Being in that same company with Jamie Bestwick and Dave Mirra, those are the best of the best of the best,” Reynolds told Jack Mitrani in his gold medal interview. “It's an absolute compliment to have my name up there with theirs."

• Now that he’s even with the BMX GOATs, Garrett has one of the biggest stats at X Games in sight: he’s just 1 victory shy of ’s all-time gold medal record, 15. • Garrett’s Street stats are staggering: He’s podium perfect, with 12 gold, 2 silver and a bronze -- he’s taken a medal all 15 times BMX Street has been contested at X Games. • A bold claim from analyst Scotty Cranmer, himself one of the best BMX riders of all time, while watching the victory lap in Run 4: “You guys get to see, right now, in my opinion, the most talented BMX rider to ever do it. I mean out of anybody out there. To be able to touch their bike and have that much control, that much confidence, and the level of tricks: There is nobody like Garrett Reynolds and we're seeing it over and over and over again... tonight he is making history.”

Second Second for Prangenberg • German rider Felix Prangenberg adds another silver to the collection he started at XG Shanghai 2019. • Prior to XG 2021 there had been 12 unique silver medalists from 14 BMX Street events. With Felix taking a second helping of silver, it’s now 12 from 15. Still a wild stat.

Donnachie Earns Second Medal • One of just two people to have beaten Garrett Reynolds in BMX Street, XG Sydney 2018 champ Alex Donnachie failed to follow up on it in his next two Street starts (9th at Shanghai 2019, 10th at Minneapolis 2019). The Scottish rider got a little bit of redemption by finding his way back to the podium at XG 2021.

Judges’ Choice: Standout Tricks • Kevin Peraza: wallride to switch whip • Felix Prangenberg: double pegs to hard 540 up and off of the 8-stair handrail, 180 fastplant over the rail • Dennis Enarson: pocket wall ride

Format: (8 athletes, 30-minute jam session, best run counts) Gold: An uncharacteristic fall in Run 1 left a brief moment for other riders to occupy the leaderboard, but absolutely Garrett Reynolds nobody was surprised when Reynolds was back on top after Run 2. He strung together so many hard tricks, no one was even close to him.

His 2nd and 4th runs were the best.

Run 2: tooth hanger to barspin, barspin to manual to double tire ride down the rail to double barspin, overcrank grind, switch 180 switch barspin over rail to flat, double pegs up rail to switch tailwhip, 180 whip down stairs.

After his Run 4 victory lap, analyst Scotty Cranmer (himself one of the best BMX riders of all time) claimed that Garrett was the best to ever do it.

Silver: Felix is a serious challenger, and he found himself in first place after Run 1. But he had falls in each of his other 3 Felix Prangenberg runs.

Trick highlights: double pegs uprail to hard 540, fakie truckdriver, fastplant 180 over the rail, barspin icepick, nollie feeble nose to hard 180.

Bronze: His switch crooked grind to regular crooked grind to soft 180 was a practice highlight on Thursday and a contest Alex Donnachie highlight on Friday. Nobody else does the trick combo.

Trick highlights: crooked up rail 540, crank pegs hard 360, switch crooked regular crook soft 180

4. Lewis Mills 4th was his best Street result since his silver medal as a rookie in front of the home-country crowd at XG Sydney 2018.

Run 3 was his best pass: switch pegs up to tailwhip out, barspin crank grind, tire ride down rail to switch barspin, oversmith to barspin, 180 barspin, switch grind up to tailwhip, feeble to 360 at buzzer.

5. Matt Ray Trick Highlights: uprail to 180 barspin catch barspin, fakie truck driver, 540 flyout, Smith nose bar icepick barspin.

6. Kevin Peraza The three-time X Games gold medalist (2 in Park, 1 in Dirt) made his first BMX Street appearance.

Trick highlights: wallride to switch downwhip (judges called it an overall contest standout), wallride to regular, nose wheelie 540 on the deck, flair (from a 3-foot quarterpipe!)

7. Chad Kerley The two-time BMX Street gold medalist is still recovering from ankle injuries sustained while filming for Real BMX 2021.

Trick highlights: 180 whip, fakie bar down the steps, barspin feeble hard 360, switch pegs manual, smith nose bar, switch peg nose manual.

8. Dennis Enarson Trick Highlights: pocket wall ride, gap to feeble to bar out, fast plant over the rail, 360 over the rail.