Barcelona, Spain – Day two of ESPN's European X Games Qualifier II showed it was the place to be today. More than 11,700 fans came to the beach, under sunny and breezy temperatures to watch the world's best action sport athletes vie for a spot to X Games VIII to be held in Philadelphia, USA, in August. There was no downtime or standing around today at the Olympic Pier where ESPN conducted three preliminaries and two finals for the international field of athletes. Two lucky competitors, Spain's Nel Martin and Chris of Sweden, are added to the roster of X Games VIII athletes, after their flawless performances today earned them invitations to Philadelphia in August.

Barcelona will gather invited athletes from more than 20 European countries including Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom who will compete in Bicycle Stunt, Skateboarding and Aggressive In-line Skating. Up for grabs is prize money, medals and a spot to the invitation-only X Games VIII in August.

The free-event continues through Sunday, July 21st.

Aggressive In-line Skating vert final gave the people of Spain something to cheer about as their Spanish stars: Borja Fernandez and Jose Felix Hormaetxe, both of Bilbao, and Nel Martin of Canovellas qualified last night for today's intense final. Taig Khris of Monaco, France debuted his double backflip in practice as his French teammate, Anthony Avella skated two technical runs, putting some heat on the Spanish team. Hormaetxe displayed sheer talent with perfect flat spin 720s and earned a fifth place finish. The three medallists today, already X Games VIII bound, were: Borja Fernandez (Gold), Taig Khris (Silver) and Holland's top in-line pro, Sven Boekhorst (Bronze). Spain will send their own Nel Martin to Philadelphia for X Games VIII who finished 4th today after two exceptional runs.

Skateboarding conducted both the preliminary and the final rounds today on the park course where all ten pros were vying for the one X Games VIII invite. After tonight's exceptional final where both grandstand and standing room were filled to its' capacity, Chris Astrom of Morrkoping, Sweden takes home the gold and the trip to Philadelphia. Germany's own Stefan Lehnert missed the gold by a mere three-tenths of a point but satisfied with an EXQ silver. Roman Hackl of Vienna, Austria hit everything possible in practice, but couldn't put it together for the finals. Hackl took home the bronze.

Bicycle Stunt held it's preliminary rounds today for the vert competition. Sixteen pro riders took to the ramp this afternoon showing Barcelona that vert riders are strong, daring and, especially today, aggressive for the two X Games VIII invitations. Holding back is not an option at this contest, as Spain's own Eduardo Terreros, known as "The Spanish Fly", is a top contender for a medal but has yet to qualify for the big show in Philadelphia. Terreros demonstrated today in the preliminaries that his 540 to tailwhip or no-handed barspin could help him win the spot tomorrow. Stomping their feet and chanting "The Fly", the locals encouraged Terreros to drop in one more time as 5 seconds showed on the clock. Even last year's vert champion and top seed in tomorrow's final, Simon Tabron of Liverpool, England led the crowd in the wave to pump "The Fly". His attempted flair left him sliding down the ramp, and Terreros goes into tomorrow's final in 4th place. The preliminary round for the park competition was held late this afternoon with twenty-one riders trying to make the cut for tomorrow's final. Spain and Germany took over this contest as 3 Frenchman and 3 Germans excelled in their runs and advance to the finals tomorrow. Spain's Ruben Alcantara and Sergio Layos finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively, and X Games veteran, Markus Wilke of Hamburg, Germany held on to the lead after two flawless runs. Tomorrow's final will be every man for themselves. Only two of the ten athletes will advance to X Games VIII, and all ten finalists have yet to qualify for the big show.

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