When the Philly sky turned gray this afternoon, nobody realized it was an omen of indecision. The Inline Park warm up looked promising. After yesterday's prelims, the competitors were feeling the course more instinctively. The grinds were smoother, the airs were linked into other big tricks and the lines in general had way more flow. The skaters even learned how to pace themselves in the stifling summer heat.
Carlos Pianowski was relaxed, his Hardcore Brazil attitude barely visible through the smile. Aaron Feinberg unveiled his new clothing line, Franco Shade, while he waited on the sidelines to borrow a helmet. Stephane Alfano stepped up his street skating another notch with 1080s over the launch box. While Randy Marino continued to protest his 11th place finish with the judges, 10th place finisher Mike Budnik silently mastered a solid line for his finals runs.
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| Jeron Grob 540's way up on the wall. |
The first set of runs was skated very cautiously. Aaron Feinberg missed almost every trick he tried and ended up with a painfully low score of 30.5. Even the normally consistent Mike Budnik missed his signature alley-oop fishbrain halfway through his run and seemed to lose focus. Only Jeron Grob and Carlos Pianowski skated up to their potential with huge rail transfers and upside down spins.
As the first runs came to an end, rain began to fall on the street course. The gods were threatening to drown the offending athletes if they didn't step up the action. The over-capacity audience shouted the names of their heroes, inspiring their next round of competition.
And inspired they were.
Budnik dropped in with fierce determination and this time, his run was perfect: flawless alley-oop fishbrain, 540 and a fakie 720 over the spine. Australian Ian Brown opened with a huge rail transfer that led into a strong line including a fakie 720 over the spine and a true spin alley-oop mizu down the grind box. Blake Dennis pulled together a perfect run that included tricks over every piece of apparatus. His smooth style earned him a third place finish.
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| Bruno Loewe ripping a flat spin 540. |
When Bruno Loewe dropped in, the judges were on the edge of their seats. His practice session was unbelievably strong and his run shaped up to be a solid reflection of his warm up. A full half of his run was done fakie: fakie 360, fakie 540, another fakie 540 off the ski jump. He threw in a stylish fishbrain and a breathtaking shuffle transfer. His style was superlative. The head judge was on his feet. "Ladies and gentlemen," he shouted. "That is the winner!"
But Jeron Grob was about to drop in.
Jeron took his already death-defying run and tweaked it on its head. Instead of a soul grind to twelve foot drop in, he spun to soul grind to twelve foot drop in. He added a 720 transfer over the spine and skated just a little bit harder. All his stunts were in place: the corkscrew 900, the 540 ten feet up the wall. The judges could barely write fast enough. When the applause died down, the question was deafening. Style? Or stunts?
But it is, after all, the X Games. While Bruno's style was lyrically resounding, it was Jeron who took home the gold.
Related Photos:
X Games VIII AIL Park
