22-year-old Daniel Dhers was in top form at the BMX Freestyle Park Final today, posting a 90.66 in his first run, then a winning mark of 91.66 in his second. He held off stiff competition from reigning Freestyle Park champ Scotty Cranmer, as well as from the most decorated athlete in X Games history, Dave Mirra, to take home the gold. In only his second X Games appearance - he won bronze at last year's BMX Park event -
Dhers was beyond consistent, hitting tricks like a no-footed can to whip air, a triple whip, and a double whip. He also stuck a 360° flip with a tail whip, which wowed the judges and put him over the top.
"I started watching X Games in '98. It was always a dream just to come here," Dhers said.
"Last year I came on the scene and won Dew Tour, Boost Mobile - pretty much everything I was in - and at the end of the year somebody said, 'Oh, you did everything but X Games.' That was my goal for this year. Now I've got it all."
Among other tricks, last year's gold medalist
Cranmer landed a triple whip and a double tail whip 360.
He also hit a front flip over the spine and was the only rider in the event to do so. His second run was his best, but the 90.33 he received from the judges wasn't enough to top Dhers' 91.66.
Mirra showed off some of the magic that has made him an international superstar, including a tail whip backflip and an alley-oop tail whip, but had to settle for bronze after a few stumbles.
"Today was Danny's day," Mirra said afterwards.
"Danny filled more tricks in his 60 seconds than any of us out here. He totally deserved to win."BMX Freestyle Park Final Results 1. Daniel Dhers / Caracas, Venezuela / 91.66
2. Scotty Cranmer / Jackson, NJ / 90.33
3. Dave Mirra / Greenville, NC / 88.00
4. Garrett Reynolds / Tom's River, NJ / 86.66
5. Mike Spinner / Miami, FL / 85.00
6. Ryan Nyquist / Greenville, NC / 82.00
7. Gary Young / San Diego, CA / 82.00
8. Josh Harrington / Greenville, NC / 81.33
9. Dennis Enarson / San Diego, CA / 80.33
10. Morgan Wade / Tyler, TX / 79.66
Third place run of Dave Mirra:
Second place run of Scotty Cranmer:
First place run of Daniel Dhers:
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.