Steve McCann wins X Games BMX Big Air

The last and winning run in the BMX Big Air competition may have been only the third most dramatic Thursday night.

Last year’s silver medalist, Steve McCann, landed a double front flip followed by a double tailwhip in his final run to raise his high score to a 91.6 and claim the gold medal. Fellow Australian Vince Byron took second even though he broke his handlebars after his second run.

“I was thinking, ‘You better not screw this up Steve,’” McCann said of his approach to his final run. “You don’t work all year to come crash.”

McCann’s winning jump vaulted him from fourth place to first, edging Byron by less than a point.

“I didn’t know,” McCann said. “I knew it was going to be close at that point.”

Two-time defending gold medalist Chad Kagy finished third, but after the competition, nobody was celebrating his bronze medal.

On his third run, Kagy suffered a fractured right femur after he fell from about 45 feet in the air. His feet touched the deck first but the rest of the Gilroy native soon followed. Kagy’s head snapped against the ramp very hard, and once he had finished sliding, he waved the medical team over.

Five minutes later, helmet and neck brace removed, Kagy was carried out on a stretcher. An X Games spokeswoman said the injury will require surgery.

During the 2004 X Games, Kagy over-rotated on a double backflip and broke his neck. On his second run Thursday, Kagy over-rotated again on a double backflip attempt. On his final run, Kagy landed the double backflip and then attempted a high jump off the subsequent quarterpipe when he fell.

douglas.farmer@latimes.com

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