X Games Minneapolis 2018: Men’s skateboard park results, highlights

Alex Sorgente went big right away to defend his gold medal in men’s skateboard park. Here are all the event highlights from X Games Minneapolis 2018.

Alex Sorgente came to X Games Minneapolis 2018 as the favorite in men’s skateboard park. Sorgente, the defending champion from the 2017 event in Minneapolis, put everything together immediately on his first run. The 89.00 score he set as the final skater of the opening round set a pace that everyone else in the field was left to chase.

Sorgente came off the course knowing that he put himself in gold-medal position. Throwing down his board, Sorgente put everyone else on notice. It left his competitors trying to go really big. That elevated the competition, but nobody could go quite as big as the defending champ.

All he needed was the one run to take the gold. On the second run, Sorgente flamed out with an 11.66. Once Tom Schaar crashed out right before the finish of his final run, it left Sorgente taking a victory lap around the park.

Tristan Rennie put down three consistent runs. If scores were compiled rather than the biggest score of the three tries, Rennie would be this year’s gold medalist. His consistency put him ahead of Schaar in the end.

MEDAL RESULT | Men's skateboard park

Alex Sorgente

Tristan Rennie

Tom Schaar

Pedro Barros came up short on his return to the X Games. The nine-time medalist and six-time gold medalist in men’s skateboard park came up short, finishing off the podium. Barros put in a technical run in the first round, but was unable to put things together in the end. He stalled on the big wall and fell short on his final attempt. For the first time in his X Games career, Barros finished lower than second place in the event.

Highlights from men’s skateboard park

Defending champion Alex Sorgente dominated his first run, getting some massive air on kick flips and riding the wall powerfully. It was a technically thorough run that put him at 89.00 and into the top spot in Minneapolis.

Tristan Rennie was the leader prior to Sorgente’s run at the end of the first round. Rennie came through with a big run that showcased incredible elevation. Getting sideways at the top of the high wall was incredibly impressive. Tricks like that were a big reason why he entered the second round in silver-medal position.

Tom Schaar put in a clean run in the opening round, fighting through a leg injury to finish third after the first try. Schaar was especially impressive stalling on the top of the big wall and stringing together a consistent run of tricks.

Rennie consolidated silver position on his second chance, nailing the cleanest run of this round. But the effort couldn’t quite get past the score laid down by Sorgente in the opening round.

Clay Kreiner felt robbed on his second run after nailing a pair of really clean 540s. He was the only other skater to reach 80 on the scoreboard in both of his first two runs, but it was a relative surprise when the score came up lower than the first round. He was fifth after this effort.

On the third round of tries, Rennie was the only skater to lay down a third straight 80-plus score.  In the end, only eight of the 36 attempts ended in scores between 80.00 and 89.00 points.

Next: 5 skateboarders to watch at X Games Minneapolis 2018

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