Gold medalist Ryan Sheckler. $23,000 buys a lot of candy.
Photo courtesy Gravity Games

The park course was dominated once again by the 13 year old prodigy from San Clemente California. Ryan Sheckler owned the course from his first near perfect run right through the third. Among the fluid lines and clean airs, it was difficult to pick a favorite trick, but one of the highlights from his third run was a backside lipslide to kickflip 180.

Straight edge skater, Rick McCrank took silver after his third run. It wasn’t what you might call a close race, but his transfer over the spine and nollie over the midsection impressed the judges.

Veteran skater, Chris Senn took third with his fast explosive style. At thirty years old, he was the oldest skater in the field.

Last year’s champion, Eric Koston squeaked into fourth place after his first run, but wasn’t able to rally beyond that. His second run featured nothing more than a basic boardslide and his third run came to a halt after twenty seconds.

	Rick McCrank
	Photo courtesy Gravity Games

Brazilian born, Rodil Jr had a solid showing with a smooth 360 flip over the hip, a switch frontside lipslide to fakie and a backside 50/50.

Saturday night belonged to the runaway favorite, Bucky Lasek, who finished his first run with so much lead that nobody could touch him for the rest of the comp. He pulled difficult tricks on every wall including his patented heelflip frontside gay twist and regular and switch frontside rodeos. By his third run, he was so far ahead that only he could beat himself. And he did.

“I think everyone just likes me a lot,” he said after the comp, “and they just let me win.”

Iconic skater, Andy MacDonald brought his famous consistency into the final. His first run, which included six different 540 variations, earned him the silver medal.

Danish Rune Glifberg dropped in to some massive airs and a string of mind-boggling lip tricks like his kickflip backside lipslide over the channel. His tech skills earned him a bronze medal.

Always popular with the skaters, Bob Burnquist redeemed himself from his X Games falls by staying on his feet in Cleveland. He did a good part of his run switch, and executed a stylish ollie over the channel to frontside boardslide. He finished in fourth.

Chris Gentry lagged in the first two runs and then pulled it out when it counted. He combined lofty airs with solid tricks like a rodeo 540.

Sandro Dias was a crowd favorite with his 540 variations, but he couldn’t quite hold an entire run together. He finished in 10th.