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Skateboard Vert Best Trick Wrap-Up Report
2004 X Games in Los Angeles
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Wrap-up report from ESPN for the Skateboard Vert Best Trick competition
on Sunday, August 8, 2004 at Staples Center in downtown
Los Angeles, Caliornia.
900 STILL HOLY GRAIL AT
SKATEBOARD VERT BEST TRICK
Sandro Dias Spins His Way to Gold at X Games X
Los Angeles, Calif. -
Tony Hawk set the bar in 1999.
And, five years later, his peers are still trying to catch up.
Sandro Dias - only the third person in history to land the trick ? did
so again on Saturday night to grab gold (his first at an X Games) in
Skateboard Vert Best Trick.
Dias (Santa Ana, Calif.) hit the trick halfway through the 30-minute
jam session and ignited the crowd at STAPLES Center. "I'm stoked to
have landed the 900 here at X Games X," said Dias, who first landed
the trick at Latin X Games III in May of this year. "It's very special.
If the other skaters didn't push me I wouldn't have landed such a great trick."
Fellow competitors Pierre-Luc Gagnon (Montreal, Canada) and Danny Mayer
(San Diego, Calif.) gave him a run for his money. But, in the end, the
900 still seems to have the marquee appeal to win a contest.
Gagnon landed a Nollie Heel Flip Indy 540 to finish with the silver
in second. It was sweet after a disappointing seventh-place finish
in last year's competition.
"I was super-hyped after practicing on the mega ramp," said Gagnon.
"I was excited to pull it off. This year was payback."
Mayer owes his first-ever X Games medal (bronze) to Bucky Lasek who
pulled out of the competition after winning Gold in Skateboard Vert
Friday. That moved Mayer, the first alternate, into the competition.
And he took advantage, nailing a Kickflip McTwist. "I owe everything
to Bucky," said Mayer, who sported a T-shirt that said "Pay Me"
across the front. "He said if he won the other comp I could have his
spot. It's my first X Games medal in one of the best contests I've ever seen."
Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, X Games X is the world's
premier action sports competition featuring more than 150 of the world's
best athletes competing in: Aggressive In-line Skate, Bike Stunt, Moto X,
Skateboard, Surfing and Wakeboard. The event is being held August 5-8,
2004 in Los Angeles with live primetime daily coverage on ESPN and ABC Sports
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Related Links
Skateboard Vert Best Trick - Main Menu
All Skateboarding Events at the 2004 X Games
About Skateboarding
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