Sheckler surprises himself in street victory

By Pete Thomas and Dan Arritt

Aug. 2, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writers

Street skateboarding has millions of fans and many more spectators. Anyone who drives, walks outside or looks out windows is a spectator.

All those kids tooling around on skateboards on sidewalk or street corners? Street skaters. They’re everywhere.

In fact, skateboarding has experienced 74% growth in the last decade -- more than any other sport or form of recreation, according to a recent study -- and the number of skateboarders in the U.S. now totals more than 10 million.

Few are impressive in their trickery, though, and many appear as public nuisances. Hardly athletes at all.

Then there are those who compete at the X Games. . . .

Sheckler comes

full circle

Ryan Sheckler emerged victorious in a rollicking X Games street competition for the first time since he was 13 -- when he became the youngest X Games athlete to win a gold medal.

“I’m in shock,” the San Clemente resident said afterward, while flanked by silver medalist Paul Rodriguez and bronze medalist Greg Lutzka. “I’m at a loss for words. It’s crazy.”

Sheckler, 18, has dominated competition on transitional park courses. But until Friday afternoon, on a course outside Staples Center built to resemble a New York subway station, he had not been able to match skaters such as Lutzka and Chris Cole on bigger obstacles in a pure street environment.

Sheckler’s bag of tricks included flip tricks, board slides and rotations, some of them performed switch and many on dauntingly large features.

Asked about the course, Rodriguez half-joked, “It scared me pretty bad. But it was a fight to the end and we all put forth our best effort.”

Said Sheckler: “This is the best thing I ever won and the best I’ve ever felt. It was the hardest I’ve ever skated and I can honestly say all my hard work paid off.”

Life of cryin’

Sheckler, who is perhaps the most famous X Games athlete because of his MTV “Life of Ryan” reality show, is both loved (by girls) and hated (by jealous boys and young men who regard him as a sellout).

This was not outwardly evident Friday -- except for the feminine pitch dominating his cheering session -- but it was at the last AST Dew Tour stop in Cleveland.

Said Sheckler to reporters covering that event: “There are just haters. More jealous people than I ever thought existed. There are so many people that speak badly about me, but that’s OK because they’re still talking about me.”

Running out of steam?

Elissa Steamer, 33, grimaced in pain after enduring slam after slam. She beaded with sweat and lit up a smoke while sitting wearily on the course, waiting for final scores.

“I’m addicted to nicotine; what can I say,” she said, after learning she’d won the gold for the fourth time in five X Games street finals.

On regaining the gold, at her age, a year after it went to a much younger Marisa Dal Santo, Steamer spoke her mind:

“It was fun. Well, it’s not really that fun, to tell you the truth. I felt like I was going to puke the whole time, but it just feels good, you know? I’m happy to still be able to skate.”

Way is a wreck

Encinitas skateboarder Danny Way, who endured two savage slams Thursday night during the big-air competition on the mega-ramp, was released from a downtown hospital at 4 a.m.

It turned out he did not have a broken foot, as was initially announced.

But the silver medalist -- he came back after each slam to perform back-flips across the 70-foot gap and earned his medal on his fifth and final run -- hardly emerged unscathed.

Way, 34, said he suffered ligament damage in his right knee and ankle as a result of his slamming into the quarterpipe coping from 23 feet. He injured his left shoulder in a previous crash. He’s also nursing a bruised and wood-burned cheek and said he felt as though he’d just tangled “with a 350-pound bouncer.”

But instead of resting home in bed, he took in the street competitions with his two sons.

Kagy shows flair

Chad Kagy returned to the BMX big-air competition, after sitting out last year’s event because of a broken collarbone, and dethroned two-time defending champion Kevin Robinson inside Staples Center.

Kagy, from Gilroy, Calif., earned a score of 96.00 on his fourth and final run, completing a back-flip tailwhip over the 70-foot gap, followed by a tailwhip flair while soaring 17 over the quarterpipe.

He successfully landed the same maneuver on his previous run, earning a score of 94.33 to jump into the lead, but he was surpassed by Dave Mirra, who was awarded a score of 94.66 on his final run.

“I just wanted to do the run I did before, just smoother and higher,” said Kagy, who broke his collarbone practicing for last year’s event.

Mirra, 34, was second, extending his record collection of X Games medals to 22. Robinson, 36, was third with a score of 91.00.

DeChamp won’t rally

Jim DeChamp reportedly suffered a broken vertebrae in a crash during Thursday’s Moto X best-trick competition.

He’s expected to fully recover but will not be able to serve as Travis Pastrana’s co-driver in the rally car final, as planned, Sunday at Home Depot Center. Pastrana has replaced DeChamp with Carolyn Bosley.

And finally

The ultra-shy Dal Santo, 20, who was second to Steamer this year, on her move from Chicago, where she grew up, to Vista: “It’s cool being away from my parents and stuff.”

pete.thomas@latimes.com

dan.arritt@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

The facts

When, where: Today-Sunday, Staples Center (and Event Deck at LA Live) and the Home Depot Center.

Tickets: $10-$20 for all-day entry. Available on site or via Ticketmaster and Ticketmaster.com.

TODAY’S MEDAL EVENT FINALS

11 a.m.-noon: Skateboard Vert women’s final, the Home Depot Center.

Noon-1 p.m.: Moto X speed & style final, the Home Depot Center.

1-2 p.m.: BMX Freestyle SuperPark final, the Home Depot Center.

1:15-1:30 p.m.: Moto X racing women’s final, the Home Depot Center.

2-3 p.m.: Moto X racing men’s final, the Home Depot Center.