This trick that won Alex Hiam BMX Park Best Trick is gonna blow your mind
The BMX Park Best Trick final went down Friday night at X Games Minneapolis 2018, and the eight athletes in the field blew our minds with their skills.
Most X Games events are structured as such that an athlete has to string together a complete run, setting up trick after trick and spending precious minutes getting in position or getting enough air.
That’s why the Dave Mirra BMX Park Best Trick final might actually be the biggest fan-favorite event of the whole weekend.
Unlike the other BMX events, Best Trick is set up as a “jam session format,” which means that the eight athletes in the field get as many attempts as possible within the 16 minutes to land their absolute best trick.
There are no silver or bronze medals in this event. It all comes down to who throws down the one trick that blows the judges minds.
As you can imagine, it’s total insanity. As the sport of BMX has progressed, especially at the park level, these riders have pushed themselves to do things their forebears may never have thought possible.
And speaking of forebears, the event is, of course, named for the late, great Dave Mirra, who won gold in the park competition five consecutive times and owned 24 X Games medals total before his tragic death in 2016.
The competitors who take part in the event today do so in part to honor Mirra’s legacy, giving nods to his style with their trick selections. That includes lots of backflips.
There were some gnarly tricks thrown down in Friday’s competition, including backflips.
But early on, Alex Hiam, who was brought in solely to compete in this event, threw down the gauntlet with his insane tailwhip into a tailwhip toe jam.
https://twitter.com/vansbmx66/status/1020391706188009472
When Hiam balanced on the front tire of his bike to complete the second tailwhip — the “toejam” aspect of the trick — the assembled crowd in Minneapolis lost its collective mind.
https://twitter.com/vansbmx66/status/1020460672013029377
No one else could top it, and Hiam took hold his first-ever X Games medal, a gold.
“I’m living the dream. I cant believe it,” Hiam said after the event.
“I hadnt tried it before the comp, and as soon as it was time to go I gave it my all and it worked. I’m stoked!
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His fellow competitors embodying the spirit of the event, were also hyped for him.
“I think Dave would be incredibly proud of everyone’s effort today,” Kevin Peraza said.
“We saw Hiam fly in here from Australia to win his first X Games.”
The field of eight also included last year’s gold medal winner, Kyle Baldock of Australia, as well as BMX dirt bigwig Colton Walker.
And given the tricks they were throwing down in the park, we have a lot to look forward to in 2019.
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