Tommy Clowers was operating with three gears in Moto X Step Up.

First gear: Clowers cleared 31 feet.

Second gear: Clowers cleared 33 feet.

Afterburner: Clowers launched himself 34 feet to win the gold medal on Sunday night, successfully defending his Step Up title before a capacity crowd at the First Union Center. Clowers now has won the last three Step Up competitions at X Games.

"We had to change up a lot of things today," Clowers said. "I started hitting it at first gear at the beginning of the contest and the bar got so high it just wouldn't pull me so I had to go to second … but I got used to it."

Step Up winner Tommy Clowers clears 34 feet to take the title three years in a row.

Riders had two attempts to clear the bar at each height. The contest started at 26 feet, and Clowers didn't miss until he hit 32. The 29-year-old Clowers, who had made his last 25 jumps dating back to the 2000 X Games in San Francisco, left no doubt on his second attempt, blasting over the 32-foot mark.

That left five riders in the field: Kris Rourke, Mike Metzger, Jeremy Stenberg, Ronnie Renner, Mike Deegan and Clowers.

"All of sudden it's one certain point that gets so gnarly that only a certain amount of people can do it," Deegan said. "There's handful of five guys who had a chance to win. And all of a sudden it comes down to those five and just keeps going up and up and up."

Metz came close to his second gold with this 33-foot clear, but got pounced by the Tomcat's 34-foot make.

Metzger, Deegan and Clowers each cleared 33 feet in their first attempt; Stenberg and Renner failed to advance.

Would the Metal Mulisha intimidate Clowers?

"It's part of the game, psyching the other riders out," said Metzger, one of five Mulisha members in the contest. "And if they can't handle it, beat it!"

Clowers wasn't going anywhere but over the bar.

At 34 feet, Metzger and Deegan both failed in their attempts; Clowers missed his first, snapping a pole on the right side.

Clowers had a different line than the other riders, favoring the right side.

Jeremy "Twitch" Stenberg topped out at 32 feet and ended up in fourth.

"When you get to the top of the bar, I had to come to the right," Clowers said. "Because when I come up, I tilt it, whip it to the right and down and those guys are whipping it the other way. So I had to kinda use my own line, and I felt comfortable with it."

In his final run, Clowers gave it his usual right-hand twist and rocked the bar. But it stayed on. Clowers (9 attempts) was golden once more.

Metzger (9 attempts) won the silver; Deegan (11 attempts) the bronze.