Two years after brutal fall, Brown gets X Games gold

Published 5:00 am Friday, July 31, 2009

LOS ANGELES Jake Brown finally has something else to talk about.

The skateboarder whose grisly, 40-foot fall to the floor of the X Games mega ramp two years ago drew gasps and became a viral video sensation, won gold Friday night in the same Skateboard Big Air competition at Staples Center.

Feels great I guess, Brown said.

The 34-year-old Australian earned a 94 on the third of his five runs with a backside 360 over the mega ramps gap into a 20-foot-high McTwist over the half-pipe for his first X Games gold.

Browns 2007 spill knocked him unconscious and left him with a broken wrist, a cracked vertebra and a bruised lung.

It was six months before he got back on a skateboard, but when asked how long it took him to get his confidence back Brown said probably about a day.

Despite the near-death experience, he was the first to roll down the ramp last year.

Two-time defending champion Bob Burnquist of Rio de Janeiro, who made his winning run in 2007 just after watching Browns slam, managed to tie Browns winning score on Friday, but Brown had a better second run.

I remember when he went down like that I could see him coming right back out, said Burnquist, whose backyard mega ramp Brown used to get back in skating shape. His type of skateboarding and his type of personality was just perfect to erase that and keep going. Now hes sitting here with a gold medal. Thats insane.

Rob Lorifice of Encinitas, Calif., won bronze.

Hawkins hits with misses: Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins won gold in the X Games Skateboard Womens vert competition Thursday despite a routine full of blown tricks.

The judges looked kindly on Hawkins repeated attempts to land the first McTwist, or mid-air 540 spin, in womens competition.

Hawkins, 19, from Cardiff by the Sea, Calif., had been working with McTwist master Tony Hawk on the maneuver and had several near misses Thursday.

Were all really pushing each other right now, Hawkins said. Im not even going to be able to snowboard this winter, because Im going to have to skateboard all year round so I can practice and stick even more tricks next year.

She did manage to successfully land several kickflip indies, a trick that just a few years ago was considered untouchable in womens competition.

Karen Jonz of Brazil, who trumped Hawkins to take last years gold, won silver and Gaby Ponce of Tenafly, N.J., took the bronze.

Renner, Carmichael share gold: Freestyle motocross champion Ronnie Renner and supercross racing star Ricky Carmichael, despite coming from vastly different styles of dirt bike riding, shared a gold medal in Moto X Step-Up.

Renner and Carmichael each cleared 34 feet in the event, essentially a motocross high jump, but neither could clear 35 feet.