the Monster Energy Cup by winning X Games
gold.
It didn’t come easy though, with both
defending champ Jarryd McNeill and freeriding
legend Tyler Bereman pushing the limits with
ridiculous whips that really should’ve ended in
disaster.
“It honestly felt like winning the lottery,” Cantrell
reflected afterward. “I was so surprised – Doug
Parsons and Kris Foster were the ones who
actually told me I’d won and I couldn’t believe
it.”
As there is every year, internet heroes took to
social media in droves to vent that Bereman or
McNeill should’ve won. Cantrell’s not fazed by
the heat.
“With success comes hate from others,” he
shrugged with a smile. “It’s part of the game
and great publicity. I’ll take it and use it – if you
don’t have haters then you’re doing something
wrong.”
4. THE YOUNGEST GOLD
MEDALLIST EVER
Ryan Sheckler, your time in the limelight has
ended: there’s a new youngest-ever X Games
gold medallist in town.
Californian Brighton Zeuner only turned 13 the
day before her appearance in the Women’s
Skateboard Park final and put the field to the
sword on her way to the gold medal. At her
X Games debut in 2016, the bubbly blonde
impressed many and earnt herself fourth place,
but this year Zeuner was on a whole new level.
She didn’t miss a beat in either of her runs and
dominated her competition, some of who were
twice her age.
With skating becoming an Olympic sport in
2020 (handily, just after she turns 16, which
is the minimum age for Olympic eligibility),
Brighton Zeuner could soon be a name that’s
on the tips of tongues in households across
the world. The future for this kid is so bright
it’s scary.
5. TYLER BEREMAN PIPPED
TWICE
You’ve gotta feel for Tyler Bereman. Coming
into X Games Minneapolis, the Californian
freerider and former factory racer was short
odds to claim gold medals in both the Best
Whip contest and the all-new Quarter-pipe
High Air comp. He got squeaked out in both.
r TOP LEFT:
Brighton on the way
to gold.
TOP RIGHT: The
Women’s Skateboard
Park podium was a
teenage-lockout, with
18-year-old Jordyn
Barratt taking silver
and 17-year-old
Poppy Olsen bronze.
BOTTOM LEFT:
Colby Raha’s
winning jump in the
Quarter Pipe High
Air.
BOTTOM RIGHT:
Bereman’s leap,
which missed out on
gold by just a few
inches.
In Best Whip Bereman threw some of the
most gnarly whips of the event, including u
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