Mirra Wins Gold in Bike Stunt Park Event

The most decorated X Games athlete added to his medal collection Saturday, and Dave Mirra showed that he is not only a winner, but a sportsman as well.

After crashing several times during his first run in the bike stunt park event, Mirra went from last place to first with a technically sound, difficult second run that earned 94 points.

Ryan Nyquist, the defending champion, was the only rider left. His lead after his first run lasted through the first seven riders in the second round. But he crashed trying an 820-degree spin over a wide gap. He blew out his back tire trying the trick and asked for a replacement bike. Mirra offered his and Nyquist continued, but couldn’t better his first run score of 92.66. Ryan Guettler won bronze with 92 points.

It was the 18th medal overall and 13th gold for Mirra, who won gold in the bike stunt vert Friday night to break a tie with Tony Hawk as the X Games all-time leading medal winner. It is the seventh time in 10 X Games that Mirra has won two medals.

“I had my money on Ryan anyway going into this so if he won it using my bike it wouldn’t have bugged me one bit,” Mirra said. “I didn’t focus too much on winning.... It just worked out. I got lucky on a lot of things to make it work.”

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Sandro Dias of Brazil became the second skateboarder to land a 900 during an X Games, and that effort was good for the gold in the best trick competition at Staples Center.

Tony Hawk landed the 2 1/2 -rotation spin during the 1999 X Games and repeated it last year. He has since retired from the competition.

Dias landed it during the Latin X Games earlier this year and again at a competition in Greece.

It was the first X Games gold for Dias, who took silver in the best trick in 2002 and ’03. Pierre Luc Gagnon of Canada won the silver with a nollie heel flip 540 and Danny Mayer of San Diego won the bronze with a kick flip 540 McTwist.

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Takeshi Yasutoko of Japan landed a double viking flip for the first time during a near-perfect first run and defeated Marco de Santi of Brazil and older brother Eito Yasutoko to win gold in the aggressive inline vert competition at Staples Center.

It is the second gold in the event for Takeshi Yasutoko, 18, who scored 95.75 points for the run. De Santi, 21, finished second with 92.75 points and Eito Yasutoko, 21, was third with 92.50.

Fabiola da Silva, 25, of Brazil, the only woman in the event, finished sixth with 83 points.

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Philip Soven of Florida scored 59.25 points and won wakeboarding gold in his second X Games appearance, ousting veteran Chad Sharpe and two-time gold medal winner Parks Bonifay at Long Beach Marine Stadium.

It was the first X Games medal for Soven, 15. Sharpe, 23, of Canada, was second with 57.80 points. Bonifay, 22, of Florida, the 1996 and ’99 champion, was third with 57.05.

Dallas Friday, 17, of Florida, dominated the women’s competition and defended her 2003 title with a score of 74.05. It was the third gold in five years for Friday.

Tara Hamilton, 22, of Florida, was second with 57.4 points and Maeghan Major, 20, of North Carolina, was third with 55.45.

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Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins, 14, of Cardiff by the Sea, won the women’s skateboard vert competition in a 30-minute format at Staples Center that was judged but not scored. Cara-Beth Burnside, 36, of Encinitas, was second and Mimi Knoop, 23, of Virginia, was third.

Hawkins landed a kick flip indy grab, the first time a woman has performed the trick.

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Today’s Schedule

At Staples Center

* 10 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: Skateboard Big Air practice.

* 1-3 p.m.: Skateboard Big Air finals.

At Home Depot Center

* 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Bike Stunt Dirt practice.

* 11 a.m.-noon: Moto X SuperMoto practice.

* 1-2 p.m.: Moto X SuperMoto finals.

* 2-2:45 p.m.: Bike Stunt Dirt practice.

* 3-5:30 p.m.: Bike Stunt Dirt finals.

* 4:30-6 p.m.: Moto X Freestyle finals.