Brown takes plunge
LOS ANGELES – The slam of the skateboarder’s body against the ramp caused a collective shudder among X Games spectators and had Web video watchers gasping Friday morning.
Jake Brown fell flailing and helpless for about 40 feet on the skateboard big air mega ramp during his fifth and final run Thursday night.
He had only a slight concussion. Brown was recovering in the intensive care unit at California Hospital Medical Center on Friday night, said hospital spokeswoman Katreena Salgado.
After pulling off a difficult 720 over the ramp’s 70-foot gap, he launched up the adjacent quarterpipe and immediately lost control. Plunging face first, his legs pedaling wildly, Brown turned over in the air and landed on his tailbone, with his head and limbs hitting soon after.
He slid limply down the last few feet of ramp and lay motionless for nearly five minutes.
The crack echoed into box seats at the top of the Staples Center.
Fans and fellow competitors worried Brown could be paralyzed or worse, and Bob Burnquist, the only competitor with a run remaining, said he thought seriously about just letting Brown, who was in first place, have the gold.
When Brown finally showed signs of stirring, the tension broke. Five minutes later, he walked away.
Vert skaters typically don’t wear pads on their lower back and tailbone, but in the super-risky Big Air event many wear gear similar to body armor.
Burnquist topped Brown’s score in his final run to take the gold, then sprinted into the nearby corridor to see Brown off to the hospital.
Cole repeats
Chris Cole won the men’s street skateboarding gold for the second straight year.
Cole, a 25-year-old skateboarder from Levittown, Pa., managed a sky-high score of 96.5 on his final session to spring past Greg Lutzka.
He did it with a kick flip back lick on the course’s rail and a grapefruit grind on the flat bar.
“The tricks just presented themselves,” Cole said.
Lutzka had managed a very tough flip switch 270 and a score of 96.25 to get into first place.
“I was really stoked to land the flip switch,” Lutzka said. “I am totally cool with second place.”
Jereme Rogers won the bronze.
The event’s two most-hyped stars – 17-year-old, soon-to-be MTV reality star Ryan Sheckler and 22-year-old Paul Rodriguez Jr. went without medals.
Sheckler finished fourth. Rodriguez, the son of comedian and actor Paul Rodriguez and the gold medalist in the event in 2004 and 2005, finished sixth.
Happy birthday
On her 20th birthday, Marisa Dal Santo upset three-time gold medalist Elissa Steamer in the skateboard street women’s final.
Dal Santo, of LaGrange, Ill., was tied with Steamer after the first two zones of the three-zone street course, but used a backside flip to nab the victory with a score of 86.08.
Steamer, of San Francisco, scored 80.33.
“Last year I was trying to do things no one else was doing,” she said of her fourth-place finish in 2006. “This year I just focused on stuff I knew I could land – but I didn’t think I was going to land the backside flip.”
Amy Caron was third with a score of 80.16.