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Bicycle Stunt Dirt Prelims:
Defending champion. Gone. 2000 silver medallist. Nope. Two key figures in Bicycle Stunt Dirt -
Stephen Murray and
Cory Nastazio - didn't crack the top 10 in the prelims on Thursday night and failed to reach the finals.
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| Allan Cooke tailwhips high over the dirt. |
Murray, who rode a double backflip to gold last year, sat tied for 14th going into his third and final run. The 22-year-old Murray pulled off some clean 360s, came out of a backflip a little shaky and pulled down an 87.80, finishing one place away from a spot in the finals.
Murray was stunned. "Honestly, you can't believe it, you know." Murray said. "When the score came up, it's like 87.5 (actually 87.80), I thought it was way, way low, man... I've had a really, really good year, and you can't win 'em all, you know what I mean. You gotta give someone else a chance."
Maybe that someone will be
Allan Cooke, who finished first overall with an average score of 89.00.
AIL Park Prelims/Womens Park Finals:
The Inline park prelims unfolded on a dream course. After great controversy,
Mike Budnik inched out
Randy Marino to qualify for the finals in 10th. Brazilian daredevil, Carlos Pianowski, gapped out to every rail he could find to qualify in 7th. After missing it in his first run, Jason Stinsman pulled the double back flip over the launch box to snag 6th.
Louie Zamora and
Blake Dennis went head to head with their unbelievably stylish skating to end up in 4th and 5th respectively. Bruno Loewe skated the most stylish fakie run of the day to qualify in 3rd. And once again, it came down to the great battle between Jaren and Aaron for the gold. Aaron pulled three huge rail transfers and a 720, but in the end, it was Jaren's 12 foot soul transfer to huge corkscrew 900 that won out.
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| Fallon Heffernen - 540 over box. |
Only moments before the woman's Park Fianls comp, word came down that Fabiola would have to pull out due to a sprained ACL. "I really want to skate but when you know you can't do your best, it sucks."
The four remaining women were determined to prove their worth on the street course. Angela Araujo pulled a 540 and a few simple soul grinds to end up in 4th.
Fallon Heffernan launched out of the quarter pipe to pull a daring stall on the athlete's tent, but couldn't quite nail it. She pulled a 540 over the spine and a couple of nice lip tricks to end up in 3rd. Jenna Downing skated a phenomenal first run with lip tricks and transfers over everything she touched. But the best run of the day was Martina Svobadova who pulled a solid 540 over the launch box and a series of strong grinds to win the X Games gold.
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Related Photos:
Day One Prelims Gallery
