It’s an X Games Five-Peat for Garret Reynolds in BMX Freestyle Street
Garrett Reynolds Nails Five-Peat in BMX Street Finals
Garrett Reynolds went into Friday afternoon’s X Games BMX Freestyle Street Finals as the only athlete to ever win BMX Freestyle Street at X Games and succeeded in continuing his dominance. The Toms River, N.J. native claimed his spot as one of the few five-peat winners in X Games history after squeezing out a gold medal final run with a score of 85.00 to beat out Chad Kerley for the top spot.
“I did the same thing I’ve been doing every year, I just went out and did what I love to do,” said a breathless Reynolds after he collapsed in exhaustion following the end of his third and final run.
After a spill off a wall in the second round, Reynolds was determined to pull off a flawless final run in an attempt to surpass Kerley’s high score of 83.00. It was all over after he landed a 540 Barspin Wallride he had missed previously, then nailed a Double-peg 270 onto the chain link fence, rotating his front wheel up and around to land hardway. Just as his run time was about to expire, Reynolds’ took a tumble as he was coming off a picnic bench obstacle. Despite the fall, the judges deemed his run worthy enough for a score of 43.00 which was enough to surpass Silver-medalist Chad Kerley by two points.
Even after being edged out of first place by a few points, Kerley, a recent high-school graduate was all smiles.
“I’m so beyond happy — I was happy just dropping in on my first run, and it’s such a dream to be able to ride at the X Games. I couldn’t be any happier at how it turned out. I feel like I won. Garrett’s the best on the planet so I feel like I still won,” said a beaming Kerley.
The BMX Freestyle Street course featured enough obstacles to satisfy any street rider’s dream—especially that of third place winner Dakota Roche.
“I wish I could just pull up to this park and ride it every day,” said Roche. Rounding out the podium with a score of 69.00, Roche picked up his second X Games Bronze with a smile.
This year’s course included obstacles like a concrete dinosaur, a “Sir Isaac Newton” quarter-pipe, various rails, picnic tables, chain link fences, and even a water fountain.
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X GAMES LOS ANGELES 2012
X Games Los Angeles 2012 will return to Los Angeles, Calif., June 28 – July 1, 2012, with live coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. This year will mark the 10th consecutive year the event will be held in Los Angeles and will feature more than 200 of the world’s best athletes in the sports of BMX Freestyle, Rally Car, Moto X and Skateboard
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Contacts: Danny Chi, ESPN, 310-642-1509, danny.c.chi@espn.com
Katie Moses-Swope, ESPN, 303-290-7888, katie.moses-swope@espn.com
Grace Coryell, ESPN, 310-642-1519, grace.s.coryell@espn.com