X Games rolled into Sacramento with a railroad themed park and a fresh X Games League format for one of those classic summer event like no other.
XGL means teams and jerseys but as in PSL, some sponsors apparently pulled rank and got their riders to wear brand gear instead of team colors. You'd never see that fly in a traditional team sport but eh, ain't nothing traditional about professionnal street skateboarding right?
On the broadcast side, the sound kept cutting out here and there and Brandon Graham with Zion Wright wasn't a medal winning commentator duo. Plus whoever decided where to drop the breaks clearly wasn't watching the same competition as the rest of us, another one of the hiccups that shouldn't happen for an event brand celebrating 30 years.
Men's Street: broken bones and big bricks
Before a single trick was thrown, the story was already writing itself. Cordano Russell broke two bones and tore a ligament the day before in practice — and still showed up to compete with a massive cast. Julian Agliardi? Small cast. Nyjah Huston? Also a tiny cast. At some point it stopped being surprising and started being a whole vibe.
Sora Shirai was a no-show due to what officials vaguely called "administrative delays" which brought Chris Joslin into the mix as a substitute. It's been a minute since Joslin's been on a stage like this, December of last year to be exact, and seeing him back was a genuine treat for anyone following street skateboarding with the year he's had last year winning SOTY and TOTY.
One quirky moment worth noting: the rerack before round 3. Turns out it was a deliberate move to put second place last and prevent victory laps as we usually see in these types of events from deflating the tension. The idea behind it kind of makes sense but the solution doesn't really...
In the end, Ginwoo Onodera got the better of Nyjah Huston on the day, but it worked out good for XC New York since both riders are on the same team. 180 points right there.
Watch the full event video breakdown here
Best Trick: redemption and deception
The best trick contest had its own drama. Juni Kang — who turned heads in Rome with his Yutornado — came back and went even bigger to claim the top spot with a nollie 270 heelflip boardslide 270 out, one of the NBDs that'll be on the list for the 10K$ bonus offered by Moonpay at the end of the event.
Defending champion Filipe Mota had to settle for bronze despite landing a gorgeous nollie bigspin heelflip backside tailslide on the big handrail everybody was going for. But the real heartbreak belonged to Ginwoo Onodera, who came agonizingly close to landing what would have been the winning trick for a second gold medal in 2 days. He didn't get it, but the attempt alone had the crowd losing it. That's the best trick format at its best — even the slams tell a story.
Watch the full event video breakdown here
Sacramento had its rough edges, but the skating was real. As always, the riders saved the show.
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