The inaugural X Games in Minneapolis kicked off with plenty of excitement with the BMX and Skate Vert competitions. Although there were only two events Thursday evening, the athletes have been slowly trickling in throughout the week to practice, get familiar with the courses and in many instances didn’t hold back during practice. From Nyjah Huston and Curren Caples, to Ryan Sheckler and Ryan Decenzo in skate, Jamie Bestwick and Vince Byron to Garrett Reynolds and Chad Kerley in BMX; the competition looked fierce.
In BMX vert, Jamie Bestwick, 14-time Gold medalist has been expected to be the favorite for the event with Vince Byron, Jamie Bestwick and others trailing closely behind. This has become the year where that finally changes. Vince Byron from Australia finally took Gold with an outstanding vert performance.
In the skate vert, the age and experience level between the athletes. But that had no effect on the performances between them. Seasoned vets like Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist and Andy MacDonald looked healthy and powerful in their runs, but couldn’t compete with the up and coming young prodigies like Moto Shibata, Jimmy Wilkins and Mitchie Brusco who took the podium.
More photos from the first day at X Games Minneapolis-
