The big finals day in Barcelona began with BMX park and the sun was blazing
as the guys hit the course. Although there were plenty of rails throughout
the park, most of the riding took place on the vert portions and over the
big box jump. Winner Ruben Alcantara carved up the course, finding lines
that no one else was seeing and flowing the entire time. Second place went
to Sergio Layos who charged through the course, launching over the box with
a superman seatgrab then hitting a nice tailwhip transfer. Both riders will
now be going to the X Games next month.
Pascal Guerard was a late show to the event, possibly a victim of the late
night party culture in Barcelona. Regardless, he was allowed one run and he
took advantage of it. Pascal was only able to claim sixth place, but his
feeble grind to 360 out made everyone happy that he was able to ride.
On the vert side of the BMX competition it was Simon Tabron who took home
the gold again this year, with Zack Shaw finishing second and Stephan
Geisler placing third. For a complete rundown of what happened, be sure to
check out the Vert recap.
After the BMX riders had cleared out it was time for the skaters to take to
the ramp. Things were going along well with a lot of lip tricks and grabbed
airs. That is until Terence Bougdour dropped in for his first run. Bougdour
went off, flowing across the ramp. He threw out a 540 with ease followed by
a varial 360 and an indy 360. The other skaters on the ramp were into it and
Terence finished up, knowing he had locked up at least second place.
Mathias Ringstrom was the final skater to drop in and he knew what he had to
do in order to beat Bougdour. Ringstrom skated a perfect run, throwing out
every flip trick in the book while going big at the same time. He landed a
540 and a McTwist then went with back-to-back varial 360s followed by a half
cab heelflip then a full cab heelflip. As the horn sounded he stepped atop
the ramp and waved to the crowd, thanking them for the support as he lit it
up.
The final event of the day was Inline park and it drew the biggest and
loudest crowd of the weekend. After Marc Dubied was viciously attacked today
by a security guard and then forcibly ejected from the competition, it
looked as though it was going to be a bad day, but the street skaters of
Europe proved to be a more resilient crew. The prelims were a who's who of
the best European skaters. Samo Bajec, Dominic Beck and Anthony Avella were
just a few of the skaters who didn't qualify for finals. Good skaters with
solid reputations who probably just had a bad day. But when the results from
prelims came in and Sven wasn't in the top ten, well, that's when we knew
something huge was about to happen.
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The inline street finals were the last event of the European X Games, a
fitting spot for the most exciting event of the contest. Richard Taylor from
Wales brought the crowd to their feet with his skating antics, launching out
of the course to land on the railing of the skater's lounge and ending up in
9th place. When Spanish skater Jose Felix Hormaetxe stepped up, the stands
exploded with raucous applause and didn't stop until well after the horn
sounded. Wilfried Rossignol, who qualified 1st after the prelims slipped to
4th when he missed a couple of his ultra smooth tricks in the final runs.
Ivan Malvido
skated two clean runs to end 3rd. Stephane Alfano threw down a perfect 900
and a series of amazing transfers to finish 2nd. But it was European street
god, Bruno Loewe who really blew away the judges with his run, the first
half of which was done entirely fakie.
Of all the things to remember about Barcelona: the beach, the bars, the
events . . . The rollerblading will be remembered as some of the best
skating ever. With that the European X Games Qualifier was over and it was
time to pack the bags. Some people will be heading off to different parts of
Europe and some lucky individuals will be on their way to Philadelphia for
the X Games. See you there!
Related Photos:
BARCELONA DAY THREE - BMX PARK
BARCELONA DAY THREE - Skate Vert
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