X Game events

* What happened Thursday: Defending champion Cara-Beth Burnside of Encinitas overcame a severe migraine to win a gold medal and defend her title in the women’s vert final at Staples Center. Mimi Knoop of Chesapeake, Va., won the silver medal and Karen Jones, a Brazilian who lives in Santo Andre, Spain, took the bronze.

Sandro Dias, 31, won the men’s vert final without even attempting a 900. The Brazilian who lives in Costa Mesa did land the 540 Body Jar -- a trick that Tony Hawk dubbed the “Gnar Jar” last year -- as his 45-second run ended. “He doesn’t do that many lip tricks, but when he’s up in the air, he’s at home,” runner-up Bob Burnquist said of Dias. Bucky Lasek finished third. Among those who suffered from the ramp, and the pressure, was 19-year-old fan favorite Shaun White, who fell all three times and finished eighth out of 10 boarders.

*--* SKATEBOARDING

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* Today’s finals: It’s not a foregone conclusion that Tarzana’s Paul Rodriguez will win the men’s street finals -- silver medalist Greg Lutza of Huntington Beach and bronze medalist Chris Cole are also in the 18-man field -- but Rodriguez has won the last two gold medals in the event. Also in the street finals field is 11-year-old Nyjah Huston of Davis. Burnquist won the men’s vert best trick last year by landing a front-side 540 nosegrab tail tap, a move he had landed only once previously at his local YMCA. That kind of creativity could be rewarded this year, too, in a wide-open event.

*--* BMX

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* What happened Thursday: Australian Corey Bohan won the freestyle dirt competition for the third consecutive year, using a first run that scored 91.66 points and edged Ryan Nyquist’s 91.33 at Staples Center. Anthony Napolitan was third with 90.33 points. Bohan set the tone early with a run that included a no-handed, one-foot to late tail whip; a 360-degree, one-footed table top, and a bar spin to late tail whip.

* Today’s finals: Legendary Dave Mirra, whose record 20 medals in the X Games include 14 golds, was to compete in both freestyle vert and vert best trick finals but suffered a lacerated liver during a practice session Wednesday. Had Mirra competed, he would still have been hard-pressed to beat Englishman Jamie Bestwick, the defending champion in both events.

*--* MOTO X

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* Today’s final: Jeremy Stenberg stole the show, and the gold medal, from Travis Pastrana last year in the best trick finals when he landed a 90-foot back flip, the longest in X Games history. Count on the one-upmanship continuing tonight, when Pastrana goes for the first of what he hopes will be four gold medals.

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Staff writers Martin Henderson, Peter Yoon and Michael Becker contributed to this report.

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For expanded stories of Thursday’s finals, go to latimes.com/xgames.