While the eye-popping spectacle of Moto X has become a favorite of X Games fans all over the world, the metrics of how the sport is judged has been a moving target as the athletes push the sport beyond its previous limits from one X Games to the next. As a spectator it is a sport that is easy to enjoy without gaining a sense of what makes one run better than the next. At the last Summer X Games the back flip proved to be the ticket to winning a medal, as was the case in the first two qualifiers for 2003. Winter X in Aspen is quickly approaching and the sport is faced with an unprecedented possibility: How do you judge five riders that can do a back flip and award one the gold medal over the others? The Big Air competition has traditionally been the proving ground for new tricks. This year however, the back flip still remains a trick executed by an elite list of riders- all that know that to date- back flip = medal. Can the back flip be out-done? We won't know the answer to that until January, but in the meantime all eyes are on the flip and how the judges might handle the possibility of handing out jewelry with more than three riders pulling back flips in competition.

Metz and The Backflip...broken down.

Moto X history at Winter X carries a common theme which is that new tricks win gold medals. The sport has matured to a point where the riders are judged on a range of criteria where skill and execution reign supreme. In the first 2003 X Games qualifier in Reno, Dayne Kinnaird proved that a well executed technical combo can beat a somewhat sketchy, but fully executed back flip. All of these points clash however when you consider that with one shot at winning a medal in Aspen, the riders know that the back flip is still all but a shoe in to win a medal. Only five of the twelve athletes going to Winter X have successfully pulled flips and with those odds chances stand that those five will play the hand that wins. With three jumps each, surely each of those five will include the flip. Assuming that is the case, how do you judge five (or more) flippers?

I had a long and informative discussion with X Games judge Andy Harrington. A professional rider and seasoned X Games judge, Andy's experience sheds great wisdom on the possibilities of what might happen in Aspen. "First off," he says, "remember that the conditions of riding in the snow change the dynamics of judging and competition. If you look to last years Winter X competition, the gold medal went to Deegan's mandatory suicide. While a side saddle landing was nothing new, it is a difficult combo to pull and land successfully in the ice, and that awarded it a higher score. As for the flip, we have a few challenges. While it is still a high-scoring trick, it is no longer "new". As judges we take a lot of heat from the riders and the fans on issues like this. For example, take the sterilizer. It is not a high-scoring trick, and it is judged as part of a whole run- but when a rider pulls it the fans go crazy. That pumps up the rider, and pretty soon the arena is in a frenzy. When that trick or possibly the whole run isn't scored well by the judges, you have an instant revolt by the rider, and his newly gained fan club of 10,000 people.

Last year's "Backflip" take-off went un-used. Before Metzger started pulling backflips off of standard ramps a step-up style launch was considered the correct approach to backflips.

Since the flip has been done, it does stand the possibility of being out-scored by a more cleanly pulled new trick. While that may be the right way to judge the sport, we don't always win in the court of public opinion which unfortunately is sometimes part of the job. A scenario where we have multiple guys pulling the same trick in Big Air is unusual, but I use the same technique for scoring every other run. You have to pick a happy medium for how back flip should be scored in the snow. From there you judge the first flip, and score it according to your established criteria. Was his rotation smooth or was he panic revving the whole time? Did he slightly over rotate, or was it landed smooth, did he land in the flat, or in the sweet spot of the down slope? Did he go for a combo, if so did he land with his feet on the pegs? All of those considerations and more can add to, or take away from your median score. While most just see the rider loop around, we pay attention to many details that when you compare rider to rider, make for very different flips."

Andy went on to explain that freestyle tricks have reached an unprecedented level of technical difficulty, which is great for the progress of the sport, but difficult for fans seeing a new trick for the first time in competition. After I spoke with Andy I went back and watched the Summer X Games, both 2003 qualifiers and some of our own back flip footage. I may be the first to ever say it, but the judge was right! In comparing the many details, even comparing flips from the same rider, each is very different. So the prospect of a five-man (or more) flip-a-thon in Aspen is now less of a scoring challenge when you understand the details. Remember though, Dayne Kinnaird beat a back flip with a new combo in Reno. The five established flippers going to Aspen may have an advantage, but what if the conditions just aren't conducive to pulling the flip? I bet that with the talent heading to Winter X, many new technical combos can be invented in the next six weeks. Maybe there is a better strategy than learning the flip, and a new trick will keep up with tradition and win the gold in Aspen.

If you have questions for Alex you can e mail her at alex@motoxalex.com.