X Games 2000 - Backflips, 900s rule the show in <br>Snowboarding Big Air

Backflips, 900s rule the show in
Snowboarding Big Air
by Daniel Dodd, ESPN.com

MOUNT SNOW, Vt. -- After a cancelled practice on Friday, a postponement, a change of venue, and a change in the competition format due to high winds and safety concerns, the men's and women's Snowboarding Big Air events finally took flight as ESPN's Winter X Games ended Sunday.

Instead of the regular Big Air format, with a best-of-three jump format, the riders for both Skiing and Snowboarding Big Air were moved to the Slopestyle course where a smaller kicker was used and each athlete had two runs with the best one counting as the final score.


	Line stops to sign autographs after claiming the gold medal in Men's Snowboarding Big Air.

Veteran snowboarder Peter Line, who was in sixth place after the first round, stormed back in the final run of the competition, landing a perfect switch front side 900 that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Line gained so much momentum coming down the landing he was unable to stop and crashed into the mob of people in the front row.

Line was stoic in his evaluation of his run. Or perhaps it was the mix of high altitude and wind-chill that easily negated the 20-degree temperature.

"I think I remember landing it," he said. "I think I remember landing it. I definitely remember the crowd."

Behind Line in second place was Jason Borgstede, who reeled off a switch front side 720, the same trick as Line minus a half-spin. Borgstede was one of several riders who let it all out in the final run.

"Last year I had a really bad time and I let the pressure get to me," said Borgstede. "This time I just put it aside and wanted to do a trick and try to think of it like practice."

At the time, it looked like it would be enough, but that was before Line broke out the 900 with a full-upright, no-hands landing.

"I had pulled up like five points ahead of the next guy at the time but you just never know, you never know," said Borgstede.

After seeing Jason Brown maintain the top spot throughout much of the first round, the second round saw the top spot change hands three times and numerous riders went in and out of the second and third spots. Line's winning 900 came on the last run of the competition.

Although the competition was over, to the delight of the crowd, Marc-Andre Tarte attempted a 1080 but came up well short on the landing.

In the women's Big Air final, Tara Dakides finally won Big Air gold, after finishing second, fourth and fifth in previous X Games. She nailed a backflip on her first run to secure the gold. Dakides, the only competitor to win two gold medals at this year's Winter X Games, said the change in venues was not a problem.

"It was smaller than usual but it was good," she said. "I liked it."

Leah Wagner, who was participating in her first Winter X Games, finished second to Dakides with a solid front flip in the first round. She also felt the change in venue had little effect on the competition.

"No. not at all," said Wagner. "I actually liked this jump better than the other one."

Men's Snowboarding Big Air Results
	Name	Run 1	Run 2	Total
1.	Peter Line	73.33	86.00	86.00
2.	Jason Borgstede	74.33	83.33	83.33
3.	Kevin Jones	77.00	81.67	81.67
4.	Jason Brown	78.67	59.67	78.67
5.	Travis Parker	78.00	42.67	78.00
6.	Andrew Crawford	46.33	76.00	76.00
7.	Bjorn Leines	72.33	75.33	75.33
8.	Kevin Sansalone	75.00	60.33	75.00
9.	Roger Hjelmstadstuem	72.67	37.33	72.67
10.	Myles Hallen	64.67	72.00	72.00
11.	Joni Makinen	38.67	71.33	71.33
12.	Joni Malmi	70.00	65.67	70.00
13.	Aaron Bishop	67.00	69.67	69.67
14.	Nicolo Drago	69.33	41.00	69.33
15.	Jussi Oksanen	44.33	68.67	68.67
16.	Blaise Rosenthal	68.33	41.33	68.33
17.	Jimmy Halopoff	67.67	41.33	67.67
18.	Josh Dirksen	46.33	56.00	56.00
19.	Ben Hinkley	53.33	53.00	53.33
20.	Marc-Andre Tarte	41.67	46.33	46.33
21.	Chris Engelsman	39.33	45.00	45.00
22.	J.P. Walker	35.67	41.33	41.33

Women's Snowboarding Big Air Results
	Name	Run 1	Run 2	Total
1.	Tara Dakides	78.00	44.67	78.00
2.	Leah Wagner	48.33	73.33	73.33
3.	Jessica Dalpiaz	67.33	33.00	67.33
4.	Mica Fish	64.33	31.00	64.33
5.	Kimberly Bohnsack	63.33	44.33	63.33
6.	Janet Matthews	29.00	60.33	60.33
7.	Leslee Olson	46.33	36.67	46.33
8.	Barrett Christy	45.00	40.67	45.00
9.	Tara Zwink	33.00	42.00	42.00
10.	Tina Dixon	37.00	36.33	37.00
11.	Sara Osterberg	34.33	36.67	36.67
12.	Jaime MacLeod	33.67	34.33	34.33
13.	Ali Berntsen	28.67	26.00	28.67