X GAMES AUSTIN
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A
FTER LAST YEAR’S
HUGELY expanded
World Tour, the X
Games committee
decided to rein it back in for
2014, and hold one killer event
in the cowboy capital - Texas.
Extreme heat and high winds
made for some incredibly difficult
conditions for all the athletes,
but none more so than the moto
riders. Although they managed
to battle against the elements
through the Step-Up and Speed
and Style events, the wind
was simply too strong to run
the FMX contest. To the huge
disappointment of the crowd and
riders, the competition had to be
cancelled for safety reasons.
OG FMX rider Ronnie Renner
showed us that experience and
bike skill is what counts when it
comes to Step-Up. The Red Bull
rider reinforced his legendary
Step-Up status by winning himself
another gold medal ahead of
Bryce Hudson and Libor Podmol
with some insane jumps. In the
end ‘Rendawg’ managed to
stomp the highest air of the night
at a staggering 34ft.
Best Whip continues to cause
controversy amongst fans and
athletes. Tom Parsons’ Whips
were undisputedly insane, and
I think it’s fair to say the gold
medal was fully deserved for the
32-year-old from Florida. Extra
props go out to Parsons who
decided he was going to be able
to ride just days before the event,
following some recovery problems
related to a broken leg sustained
at the start of the year. Having
not ridden for months, a few test
jumps at 75ft two days before
the event would confirm that his
leg was up to the challenge and
it was on! Standing in between
Parsons and the gold, were the
two favourites: Jeremy ‘Twitch’
Stenberg and Josh Hansen. The
two Monster Energy/DBK riders
were both absolutely sending it
with some mind-blowing TurnUps and upside-down Whips, but
the Twitter fans spoke and they
wanted the win to go to Tom P. u
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