LOS ANGELES ュ Over the black, paved flatland course at
STAPLES Center, 20 of the world痴 best bike stunt athletes
competed for the gold in the Bike Stunt Flatland final, but
only Australian Simon O達rian rode away with the gold medal.
Bike Stunt Flatland is held on a flat piece of asphalt, and
the riders are judged on style, difficulty, originality,
creativity, execution and overall performance, and riders
lose points every time they touch the ground.
O達rian (Erowal Bay, NSW AUS) came out on top with a score
of 93.40. "Heat was an issue because it made the asphalt
kind of sticky and hard to deal with," said O達rian, "but
I can稚 make excuses." O達rian first won gold in Flatland
at the Asian X Games V. O達rian appreciates the uniqueness
of his sport noting that it is "so different from the bike
stunt dirt and park."
The silver medal winner was Nathan Penonzek (Gibsons,
BC CAN) scoring 92.00. Winning the silver medal for
Bike Stunt Flatland is the highest-ranking Penonzek has
ever received in any X Games competition.
"It went very well," said Penonzek of the competition,
"the judging was great and it felt like they really
respected what we were doing out here."
Trevor "The Machine" Meyer (Chaska, Minn.) scored 88.60
receiving the bronze medal, and was the only American
in the top three. "I am really happy I rode well,"
said Meyer, "I love being out here with the 20 best in
the world, I can稚 wait to do it again next year."
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