The stadium was packed with inline skating fans from the bottom row to the nosebleed seats. Japanese flags dotted the bleachers like a connect-the-dots puzzle and no matter how you traced the lines, one name kept coming up: Yasutoko.
Word came down just before the start of the comp that 2nd place qualifier, Taig Kris, had pulled from the competition. His injury from last month's high air record attempt just wouldn't succumb to ESPN's schedule and he needed some serious physical therapy.
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| Takeshi Yasutoko sad plants the extension and takes home another Gold Medal. |
Mike Budnik was the first one in the ramp. He skated a solid run of picture perfect inverts and spins way above the coping. When Matt Lindenmuth stepped onto the ramp, the audience really came to life hoping that the Pennsylvania home town hero would pull the never-seen-before triple Lindy, a triple back flip. His first run ended, however, when he went down on a double back flip and never quite recovered his momentum.
12 year old Rui Kitamura, the youngest X Games competitor ever, put together a solid run. His tricks were just over the coping, but they were strong: a flat spin 540, a 900, a beautiful 1080. He immediately slipped into first place.
And he stayed there while Marc Englehart, Nel Martin and Beni Huber did their runs. Then Eito dropped in. He aired way over the coping, executing a flat spin 1080, a hover flip, a good topside pornstar and, finally, the double back flip 180. Immediately, the older Yasutoko rocketed into first.
Shane Yost followed him with a great opening. He pulled off a high flatspin 540, a switch flatspin and a 900, but crashed on a second 900 and didn't get up. The first half of his first run was his last time on the X Games ramp.
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| Eito Yasutoko takes the second place podium spot with moves like this double backflip 180. |
From the moment Takeshi dropped in, he controlled the competition. Huge airs, flatspins and a couple of bonus liptricks: alley-oop acid to topside soul followed by a 450 to frontside. He concluded with a 1080 to the resounding appreciation of the crowd. Clearly, Takeshi had set the standard.
At the end of the first run, Japan had a lock on the podium. Takeshi in first, Eito in second and young Rui in third.
Matt Lindenmuth was determined to capture the triple Lindy in his second run, and that determination was infectious. He dropped in off a four foot extension and hit two walls before throwing the triple back, but he under rotated and came down on his face. The crowd pulled him back to the top of the ramp for another attempt, but this time, he over rotated. One more attempt and one more miss and the comp had to continue.
Marc Englehart knew he had to skate the run of his life to break into medal contention. And so he did. He pulled a flat spin 540 directly into a 900 followed by a massive 1080 right into a fakie 900 and a 720. He ended the run with a flatspin 540 disaster revert to clinch the bronze medal.
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| Marc Englehart joins the Yasutoko brothers on the podium with this safety grab 900. |
But nobody could break the Yasutoko's lock on the top two places. Eito pulled out two double back flip 180s in his second run and remained in second. That left Takeshi with a glory run for the final X Games run of the day.
Matt Lindenmuth brought the crowd back to their feet with several more triple back flip attempts, but never quite got control of it. As the audience dispersed, the Japanese skaters proudly took their medals and ESPN awarded the bronze to America's great new vert hope, Marc Englehart.
Related Photos:
Inline Vert Gallery
