The thing I like about Andy Macdonald is that he is just about a universal constant at the X Games. Every single year, he is in the events. From 1995 to 2018, I don't think he has missed a single year.
The first time he won gold at skateboard vert was 1996 with his 89 point run. Back then, skaters had 3 45 second runs and the highest two scores would be averaged together.
His most recent run was in Minnesota in 2018. The format changed several years ago. For the last several years, the skateboard vert competition was 3 30 second runs and only the highest scoring run matters.
Andy puts down a really solid run and his run is undoubtedly far better than his 1996 run, however his run only got a score of 78. Over the course of 23 years, vert skating progressed so much and the talent pool increased so much. That being said, it is great to see one of the original riders keep coming back year after year.
The vert ramp appears to be 13 feet tall and has two 18 feet roll in ramps to start skaters off with lots of momentum.
Andy starts off with a large Backside 540 Melon about 4 feet out but he travels what looks like 8 to 10 feet across the vert ramp. He then does a Backside Kickflip Indy about 5 feet out and does another Backside Kickflip to Indy about 4 feet out on the third wall.
On the fourth wall, he does a McTwist about 4 feet out and he does a Mute to Fakie on wall 5.
Andy did the Mute to Fakie to setup for the 720 that he does on wall 6. He gets about 3 feet out.
On Wall 7, he does a Backside Madonna more than 2 feet out. What is cool about this trick is that it is usually done frontside. I hardly ever see this trick done backside. Going frontside, the front leg gets kicked off the board and is leaning in towards the ramp. Doing this trick backside, you have to kick the front leg off towards the air which is much more difficult to do.
On wall 8, Andy does a Frontside Rodeo. He grabs the board backside and spins a frontside 540. This is a difficult way to spin so it looks like Andy gets completely inverted during the spin. He gets about one or two feet over the coping during the spin.
On wall 9, Andy does a Frontside Eggplant. At first, I thought this was a Frontside Invert but Andy is grabbing the board with his front hand and holding the coping with his back hand.
On wall 10, he does a Backside Indy about 2 to 3 feet out.
On wall 11, he does a Backside Body Varial 540 about 3 feet out. This is a trick he has done for several years seeing this trick being done as far back as his winning run in 1996.
While rolling towards wall 12, time seems to run out so it is not certain if Andy's last trick gets counted. On Wall 12, Andy does what appears to be a Frontside Body Varial Lipslide. It is hard to accurately name this trick but Andy rolls up to the coping going backside and his body spins frontside so that when Andy lands back on the board, he is sliding a backside lipslide.
During this run Andy does:
12 total tricks
10 tricks in the air
2 tricks on coping
4 tricks with a 540 rotation
1 trick with a 720 rotation
2 flip tricks
1 handplant
1 trick to fakie
Throughout Andy's run, he does the first 5 tricks in the 4 to 5 foot range. After the 720, the rest of tricks are in the 2 to 4 foot range. He does 3 540 variations including the 540 Body Varial which is always fun to look at. He does his 720 which isn't seen that much in competition. He repeats the Backside Kickflip Indy really early during the run. And he finishes his run with a unique trick (Body Varial Lipslide) which might or might not have counted towards his score.
This run was far more impressive than his 1996 Gold Medal run however he only got a score of 78. There are a couple of noteworthy differences though.
His run in 1996 lasted 45 seconds compared to the 30 second run in 2018. In 1996, Andy did 19 total tricks compared to 12 in 2018.
The ramp used in 1996 was very different as it only had a small extension and no massive roll ins. The massive roll ins lets skaters start a run with extraordinary momentum and carry that speed and height for the first several tricks of the run. Because of the different ramp setups, Andy's run in 1996 had several setup airs. Out of 19 tricks done in 1996, Andy did about 7 setup airs and did 2 stalls on the coping to set up for other tricks.
Also, the format was different. Back in 1996, the average of the highest 2 runs were taken to determine a final score. In later years, only the highest run counted. This meant that skaters had to be far more consistent in the late 90s to secure a spot on the podium. As a result, skaters back then had to be more conservative until 2 runs were finished and then gamble with the third run.
In 2018, each skater got 3 runs and only 30 seconds per run. For this reason, every trick has to count. In 2018, Andy did maybe one or two setup airs (Mute of Fakie and Backside Indy).
In 2018, the Gold Medal was won by Jimmy Wilkins with a score of 89. We will take a look at that run soon.
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