Oh boy o boy. The vert finals were quite a show. Imagine if you will, a stage one fourth the size of a basketball court. However, the fan base is equal to the NBA finals. The arena was packed tight like a chick from Huntington Beach. Boo-ya! The show was going off.
It all started with a rock star introduction including laser light shows and thumping bumper music straight out of Compton. Each skater was introduced with enthusiasm and welcomed with explosive cheers that not even Animal Chin could have evoked.
The announcer, Dave Duncan of Alva Skateboard fame, belted the names of the ten finalists out to the masses. The fans on hand knew the names. They are household at this point. Guys like
Pierre Luc Gagnon,
Bucky Lasek,
Rune Gilfberg,
Jake Brown,
Andy Mac, and
Bob Burnquist, just to name a few. As each name pumped from the stadiums bumping system everyone wondered what style and trick choice was gonna take it.
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| Bob does his Bob thing yet again... And his Bob thing nets him second place. |
Pierre Luc without a doubt is an overall consistency machine. Goes big, keeps it clean, even though he is not a Burnquist switch machine. Speaking of Burnquist, the guy's switch routine is to die for. Complete switch combos! What can drop your jaw harder than a switch frontside air into a switch backside, then backed up with a switch frontside ollie one footer?
The switch stuff is cool because it is not ambidextrous. It looks delicate and clearly seems "backwards" Will switch ever morph into just another direction? Pierre Luc thinks it'll be two years down the road, maybe sooner. What about Rune Glifberg? He adds a little more beefcake to his stuff than the delicate Burnquist, but at the same time still unloads some crazy looking skinny guy flippery. Can you imagine a varial heelflip ten feet out? Rune can!
It was anyone's game, even the high mileage Andy Mac who never stops pulling out the stops. Every one of his runs takes you through the tricks of each Bones Brigade video and kicks you in the face with super boned out kickflip Indys.
In the end, these were the runs that made the difference.
Round one was bleak. The crew started off slow. Lots of falls on easy tricks. Could have been nerves, but who really knows. Bob Burnquist started things off since he was the tenth qualifier. He hopped into his switch routine and bailed on a switch frontside kickflip. The next skaters all jumped off of easy tricks. Andy Mac was the first skater in round one to get things fired up. Bam! Body varial flip! Backside varial 540! No Falls!
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| Rune Glifberg wasn't happy with the judges but he was happy with third. Frontside ollie during practice. |
Andy Mac lit the fire. That is until…Rune Glifberg and Bucky Lasek. Rune busted out the solid run with a cab heelflip backed up with a big ol' 540 Mctwist. Then there was Pierre Luc. Not holding back at all, his first run gave the crowd some amplitude they needed and cleaned up the spin cycle with a bomber backside 720 mute. Round two looked to be a bit better. Burnquist again, came off early, and was forced to wait for his third run. Not till
Jake Brown dropped in did round two show some promise. Jake rode hard and unloaded the sick looking frontside rodeo five backed up with a backside 540 tail. Jake was stoked. Bucky dropped next. His switch routine was on fire and was destined to be gold. He again bailed. Pierre Luc nailed his second run as well. Two first place runs for Pierre Luc. Pierre was bummed his bros were a little off. He told us, "I wanted Bucky to make his run and step it up!"
The last and final run had Pierre sitting up in gold, with Rune in Silver and Bucky in the Bronze. Bob Burnquist started off round three and made it clear he was not gonna jump off. Enter the switch revolution with the switch revolutionary, Bob Burnquist. Switch nosegrinds led to switch airs which then led to switch ollies. A switch gay twist confused things even more. What is a switch gay twist? Would that not be just a nollie backside three? I don't know, you make the call. Right at the buzzer, Bob, out of nowhere, blasts a one foot switch frontside ollie. At the last moment the buzzer sounds, his trucks hang, he slams. The fall does not count and everything else did. Bob moves into second and the silver medal position.
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| Pierre-Luc Gagnon pulls down a 540 on his way to X Games Gold. |
Jake Brown's third round was a good one. His airs were huge, and size of any kind always gets the crowd rolling. Outta nowhere Jake busts a giant double frontside heelflip, misses the grab, ends up grabbing darkside, and sticks it with speed.
Tony Hawk said it was the trick of the contest. Tony commented, "Dark side grab, double heel flip, nobody has ever done that".
Sad to say, Jake didn't fill the rest of his run with enough difficulty to punch him to the top.
Rune Glifberg was the last guy around to take a gold spot from Pierre Luc.
Bucky was running slippery grip tape and couldn't stay on despite sticking a heelflip gay twist. Rune highlighted his final run with mad combo of kickflip variations but couldn't quite get it. Pierre Luc's last run was nothing more than a victory lap.
Related Photos:
Skateboarding Vert Finals
