Going into X Games Los Angeles, Bob Burnquist was chasing his sixth consecutive gold medal in Skateboarding Big Air, thanks in part to a successful trip around the world this year. Once a master of bowls and vert alike, Burnquist has honed his Big Air skill as of recently, proving to be unmatched.
Burnquist’s focus on the discipline gave him a dynasty-like status, confirming not only his ability to land gnarly tricks on Mega Ramp, but also that he’s a little out of his mind to do so. But things didn’t go quite as planned Thursday in what was the final X Games Big Air in Los Angeles (due to the games moving to Austin next year).
After a solid first run, the second one didn’t go quite as well for the Brazilian, plunging almost 45 feet from above the halfpipe and landing flat on his face.
The fall broke his nose – potentially costing him the win – but being the warrior that he is, Burnquist finished out the event. Blame it on injury, or whatever, but he ended the day on the last spot of the podium behind Tom Schaar and gold medalist Elliot Sloan.
At 36-years-old, Burnquist is ancient compared to the talent taking over skateboarding today. Sure, vert is still being dominated by veterans but street is getting a youthful resurgence, leaving Big Air. Four of Burnquist’s fellow competitors were under the age of 20, though they still have a lot to prove.
With 12 X Games gold medals – and 25 total medals – under his belt, it’s tough to bet against Burnquist, one of the best skateboarders ever. He might be getting older, but he dominated this year and who knows how the event in Los Angeles would have ended had he not broken his nose. If fellow riders like Bucky Lasek and Andy Macdonald can dominate and medal into their forties, there’s no reason to believe Burnquist doesn’t have a few good years left in him.
He does, however, push his body a little harder, judging by the latest video making the rounds. It’s an eight-and-a-half minute piece produced by Oakley titled “Dreamland”, where he pushes his Big Air skills to the limit – some of which involve a helicopter.
He might have suffered a tough loss last week but we think he’s still got several good years of quality skateboarding left in him. Burnquist is one of the best technical skateboarders there’s ever been, which certainly works to his advantage and why we believe he’ll be back with a vengeance next year!
Ed is an MMA/Extreme Sports contributor for CraveOnline Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @PhillyEdMiller, and subscribe at Facebook.com/CraveOnlineSports.
